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AMERICA'S DREAMING

An earnest but less-than-convincing attempt at fostering inclusion.

A child named America feels out of place at a new school.

America is clearly nervous. Though the child isn’t visually depicted (each scene is viewed from the young narrator’s perspective), America confesses, “My hands are shaking so bad, I drop my backpack.” As class begins, the teacher, Mr. Downs, invites the students to introduce themselves and share their dreams, which include scoring the winning World Cup goal and singing on Broadway. But when it’s America’s turn, the child freezes up, and the other students giggle and sneer. During recess, America stays inside, buried in a biography of Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Downs offers America books about historical figures such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Sojourner Truth, people who sometimes felt they didn’t belong. That night, these larger-than-life people visit America in a dream and share words of wisdom. The next day goes better: America speaks up, and the other students welcome America into the fold. McKinnon tells a heartfelt yet didactic story, accompanied by Phuong’s earth-toned illustrations. The legendary figures America meets are reduced to flattened, simplistic depictions. McKinnon offers a one-sided view of friendship and acceptance; while America does plenty of soul-searching, the other students don’t reflect on their unkindness—which may inadvertently leave readers believing that the onus is on bullied children to work harder to fit in. The other kids’ ultimate willingness to embrace America also seems unrealistically rushed. The class is diverse; Mr. Downs is light-skinned.

An earnest but less-than-convincing attempt at fostering inclusion. (author’s note, information on historical figures) (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: June 4, 2024

ISBN: 9780593658796

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Penguin Workshop

Review Posted Online: March 23, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2024

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

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

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)

Pub Date: June 21, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016

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IMANI'S MOON

While the blend of folklore, fantasy and realism is certainly far-fetched, Imani, with her winning personality, is a child...

Imani endures the insults heaped upon her by the other village children, but she never gives up her dreams.

The Masai girl is tiny compared to the other children, but she is full of imagination and perseverance. Luckily, she has a mother who believes in her and tells her stories that will fuel that imagination. Mama tells her about the moon goddess, Olapa, who wins over the sun god. She tells Imani about Anansi, the trickster spider who vanquishes a larger snake. (Troublingly, the fact that Anansi is a West African figure, not of the Masai, goes unaddressed in both text and author’s note.) Inspired, the tiny girl tries to find new ways to achieve her dream: to touch the moon. One day, after crashing to the ground yet again when her leafy wings fail, she is ready to forget her hopes. That night, she witnesses the adumu, the special warriors’ jumping dance. Imani wakes the next morning, determined to jump to the moon. After jumping all day, she reaches the moon, meets Olapa and receives a special present from the goddess, a small moon rock. Now she becomes the storyteller when she relates her adventure to Mama. The watercolor-and-graphite illustrations have been enhanced digitally, and the night scenes of storytelling and fantasy with their glowing stars and moons have a more powerful impact than the daytime scenes, with their blander colors.

While the blend of folklore, fantasy and realism is certainly far-fetched, Imani, with her winning personality, is a child to be admired. (Picture book. 5-8)

Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2014

ISBN: 978-1-934133-57-6

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Mackinac Island Press

Review Posted Online: July 28, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2014

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