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WHERE DID BENJAMIN GO?

Name: WHERE DID BENJAMIN GO?
Author: Chris Clarkson
ISBN: 9781419757273

by Chris Clarkson ; illustrated by Annalise Barber ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 19, 2023

Big grief in a small package shows us a complicated sort of healing.

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An illustrated love letter to a lost loved one.

On a snowy day, young Charlie is solemnly reminiscing about big sibling Benjamin until Daddy suggests that the young narrator make a list of things about Benjamin: “My top favorite things to do with you.” Watercolor, gouache, and colored pencil illustrations depict memories of the two smiling brown siblings—one tall, with cornrows and long, protective, curvy arms, the other smaller, wide-eyed, with short locs. Musical notes, flowers, and a football flow behind them. Charlie’s list is a long one that ranges from pickling vegetables to watching dolphins; it also includes “carousels / and bumper cars / and funnel cakes.” Benjamin’s absence is felt by Mommy and Daddy and even the piano, according to Charlie, who remembers the good times but visibly struggles today. As Charlie reflects on the pool game Marco Polo, the illustrations heartbreakingly show the child searching for a sibling who can no longer be found beneath the bed or in the bathroom. Both readers and Charlie are left to wonder, “Where did you go, Benjamin?” Though there isn’t a clear answer, the focus on the warm, flowery, exciting, and loving memories is as effective as it is bittersweet.

Big grief in a small package shows us a complicated sort of healing. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2023

ISBN: 9781419757273

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Abrams

Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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CHLOE AND THE FIREFLIES
by Chris Clarkson ; illustrated by Julie Jarema

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THAT SUMMER NIGHT ON FRENCHMEN STREET
by Chris Clarkson

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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)

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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
ON THE FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

- BOOK REVIEW
FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

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TINY T. REX AND THE IMPOSSIBLE HUG

by Jonathan Stutzman ; illustrated by Jay Fleck ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 5, 2019

Wins for compassion and for the refusal to let physical limitations hold one back.

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With such short arms, how can Tiny T. Rex give a sad friend a hug?

Fleck goes for cute in the simple, minimally detailed illustrations, drawing the diminutive theropod with a chubby turquoise body and little nubs for limbs under a massive, squared-off head. Impelled by the sight of stegosaurian buddy Pointy looking glum, little Tiny sets out to attempt the seemingly impossible, a comforting hug. Having made the rounds seeking advice—the dino’s pea-green dad recommends math; purple, New Age aunt offers cucumber juice (“That is disgusting”); red mom tells him that it’s OK not to be able to hug (“You are tiny, but your heart is big!”), and blue and yellow older sibs suggest practice—Tiny takes up the last as the most immediately useful notion. Unfortunately, the “tree” the little reptile tries to hug turns out to be a pterodactyl’s leg. “Now I am falling,” Tiny notes in the consistently self-referential narrative. “I should not have let go.” Fortunately, Tiny lands on Pointy’s head, and the proclamation that though Rexes’ hugs may be tiny, “I will do my very best because you are my very best friend” proves just the mood-lightening ticket. “Thank you, Tiny. That was the biggest hug ever.” Young audiences always find the “clueless grown-ups” trope a knee-slapper, the overall tone never turns preachy, and Tiny’s instinctive kindness definitely puts him at (gentle) odds with the dinky dino star of Bob Shea’s Dinosaur Vs. series.

Wins for compassion and for the refusal to let physical limitations hold one back. (Picture book. 5-7)