Gently encourages readers to be comfortable with themselves every day and to embrace their extraordinary natures.
You don’t have to be quirky to be extraordinary!
This very active mother-child combo lives in the moment with smiles. Mom has a fair complexion and vibrant red-orange crimped hair, and the child narrator has light skin and red-brown pigtails. They make daisy crowns and art, rescue animals in need, climb rocks, take road trips, and meditate on mountaintops. Mom is comfortable singing out of tune and break-dancing at the grocery store and has a “canvas” of tattoos. Out in their diverse community, the two share Sunday barbecues and personal stories and join drum circles under the stars. But Mom also embraces quiet days that “are made for staying home in our pajamas eating chocolate cake” and the idea that “extraordinary isn’t always colorful and bold. It can also be found under blankets telling stories we remember by heart.” Mom shares smiles to make someone’s day and words of encouragement like “it’s okay not to be okay.” Brilliantly colored and detailed illustrations make this a good book for sharing with a group, but readers should take the time to scout out the expressive pets that accompany the duo on many of their adventures. This mom is like no other, but that is the point. “It’s important to be exactly who you are,” and who you are is extraordinary. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Gently encourages readers to be comfortable with themselves every day and to embrace their extraordinary natures. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-922503-89-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Larrikin House/Trafalgar
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2022
As ephemeral as a valentine.
Daywalt and Jeffers’ wandering crayons explore love.
Each double-page spread offers readers a vision of one of the anthropomorphic crayons on the left along with the statement “Love is [color].” The word love is represented by a small heart in the appropriate color. Opposite, childlike crayon drawings explain how that color represents love. So, readers learn, “love is green. / Because love is helpful.” The accompanying crayon drawing depicts two alligators, one holding a recycling bin and the other tossing a plastic cup into it, offering readers two ways of understanding green. Some statements are thought-provoking: “Love is white. / Because sometimes love is hard to see,” reaches beyond the immediate image of a cat’s yellow eyes, pink nose, and black mouth and whiskers, its white face and body indistinguishable from the paper it’s drawn on, to prompt real questions. “Love is brown. / Because sometimes love stinks,” on the other hand, depicted by a brown bear standing next to a brown, squiggly turd, may provoke giggles but is fundamentally a cheap laugh. Some of the color assignments have a distinctly arbitrary feel: Why is purple associated with the imagination and pink with silliness? Fans of The Day the Crayons Quit (2013) hoping for more clever, metaliterary fun will be disappointed by this rather syrupy read.
As ephemeral as a valentine. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Dec. 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5247-9268-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.
A ghost longs to be scary, but none of the creepy personas she tries on fit.
Misty, a feline ghost with big green eyes and long whiskers, wants to be the frightening presence that her haunted house calls for, but sadly, she’s “too cute to be spooky.” She dons toilet paper to resemble a mummy, attempts to fly on a broom like a witch, and howls at the moon like a werewolf. Nothing works. She heads to a Halloween party dressed reluctantly as herself. When she arrives, her friends’ joyful screams reassure her that she’s great just as she is. Sadler’s message, though a familiar one, is delivered effectively in a charming, ghostly package. Misty truly is too precious to be frightening. Laberis depicts an endearingly spooky, all-animal cast—a frog witch, for instance, and a crocodilian mummy. Misty’s sidekick, a cheery little bat who lends support throughout, might be even more adorable than she is. Though Misty’s haunted house is filled with cobwebs and surrounded by jagged, leafless trees, the charming characters keep things from ever getting too frightening. The images will encourage lingering looks. Clearly, there’s plenty that makes Misty special just as she is—a takeaway that adults sharing the book with their little ones should be sure to drive home.
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9780593702901
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
