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WORMS

Name: WORMS
Author: Bernard Friot
ISBN: 978-1-77138-571-8

by Bernard Friot ; illustrated by Aurélie Guillerey ; translated by Yvette Ghione ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2015

Readers may carefully pick through their lettuce from now on, just in case.

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A French import about an impish boy and one very impulsive decision he makes to liven up his father’s dinner party.

Surrounded by dreary, talking grown-ups, the young narrator is desperate to escape his father’s business gathering. So when it is suggested that John-Paul serve the salad course, he gratefully jumps up to the kitchen to obey. However, even with shrimp and almonds, the salads look a little plain. He decides they need an extra ingredient: worms! This turn of events makes the dinner party practically exciting. Each grown-up has a different way of dealing with the tiny trespasser on the plate. John-Paul giggles in delight until—GULP—he realizes there is one salad left to eat: his own. When he is introduced, he is wearing one green sock and one red sock, so readers glimpse right away this boy may not be as serious as his father hopes. Guillerey’s delightfully ink-scrawled, retro-style drawings and expressive tiny, pink worms add extra fun. The translation is a bit stilted in the beginning but perks up when the intruding annelids enter the story.

Readers may carefully pick through their lettuce from now on, just in case. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-77138-571-8

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Kids Can

Review Posted Online: May 11, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
THE FISHING LESSON
by Heinrich Böll ; illustrated by Emile Bravo ; adapted by Bernard Friot

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THE WORLD NEEDS THE WONDER YOU SEE

by Joanna Gaines ; illustrated by Julianna Swaney ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 28, 2025

Handy advice for perpetually inquisitive children.

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Interior decorator and TV personality Gaines invites readers to open their eyes and exercise their imaginations.

There’s a world to be explored out there—and only children can really take part. What does “looking for wonder” entail? Slowing down and looking up, around, and everywhere. At the outset, a group of eager, racially diverse young friends—including one who uses a wheelchair—are fully prepared for a grand adventure. They offer tips about how and where to look: Why, there’s a “grand parade” of marching ants! And, these kids add, perspective is key. A rainy day might signal gloom to some, but to those filled with wonder, showers bring “magic puddles for play”; a forest is “an enchanted world,” the ocean conceals “a spectacular city,” and the night sky boasts “extraordinary sights.” The takeaway: “Wonder is never in short supply.” It’s a robust, empowering message, as is the exhortation to “keep your mind open, and let curiosity guide the way.” Youngsters are also advised to share their discoveries. The upbeat narrative is delivered in clunky verse, but the colorful cartoonish illustrations brimming with activity and good cheer (including some adorable anthropomorphized animals in the backgrounds) make up for the textual lapses and should motivate readers to embark on their own “wonder explorations.”

Handy advice for perpetually inquisitive children. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2025

ISBN: 9781400247417

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Tommy Nelson

Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
THE WORLD NEEDS WHO YOU WERE MADE TO BE
by Joanna Gaines ; illustrated by Julianna Swaney

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.

The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)