Perfect for young giraffes—or children—who stand out in the very best of ways and just need to know they’re all right...
Meet Geraldine, a boisterous, dramatic giraffe with a lanky, expressive neck, who is miserable about leaving her giraffe city for a town where she will be the only giraffe.
Rarely do picture books featuring life transitions—such as a new baby, moving, or the first day of school—depict them with such humor, poignancy, and believability. Hilarious yet heartwarming illustrations depict Geraldine in melodramatic poses, trying to run away and breaking her belongings to avoid packing. When she arrives at her new school (populated only by humans), her neck sticks out no matter what, foiling her attempts to play hide-and-seek, swim in the pool, and just blend in. That is, until she meets Cassie—a young girl of color who has her own distinctive traits that make her stand out, too. Together, they build trust, friendship, and confidence. With more than a little drama, lots of heart, and the most expressive neck in all of children’s literature, Geraldine learns to embrace her own uniqueness and that of her new friend, and soon her classmates do, too. Lilly’s bright, classic watercolors, brimming with whimsy and charm, create an immersive world full of details big and small. Readers will fall in love with Geraldine in this stellar debut.
Perfect for young giraffes—or children—who stand out in the very best of ways and just need to know they’re all right exactly how they are . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: June 26, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-62672-359-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Neal Porter/Roaring Brook
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2018
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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