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STOP AND SMELL THE COOKIES

Name: STOP AND SMELL THE COOKIES
Author: Gibson Frazier
ISBN: 978-0-525-51714-6

by Gibson Frazier ; illustrated by Micah Player ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 19, 2022

A humorous yet compassionate portrayal of the challenges of self-regulation.

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Dash wants to be good, and he knows right from wrong, but sometimes he can’t stop himself from misbehaving.

It’s been a rough couple of days for Dash. He loves karate class so much that he forgets to be quiet. He goes to Cate’s birthday party and accidentally blows out her candles before she can. Then at school, he blurts out the answer to a math activity while another student is still figuring it out. Each time he makes a poor choice, Dash can feel it coming: “Dash's chest felt warm and fuzzy. His toes danced. His fingers tickled the air.” Yet each time he sees how disappointed people are with him, he feels terrible. The bold cartoon outlines and expressive faces in Player’s illustrations pair perfectly with Frazier’s infectious text. Dash’s zest for life is palpable, as are both the tension that builds as he’s about to do something wrong and his contrition afterward. It’s clear that Dash is a good kid whose big feelings overwhelm him. Luckily, his supportive mom gives him a hug and teaches him a practical exercise for calming down his feelings, which he uses to great effect at school the next day. Dash and his parents have light skin and dark, curly hair, while his grandmother has gray hair and light skin. Other characters are racially diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A humorous yet compassionate portrayal of the challenges of self-regulation. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: July 19, 2022

ISBN: 978-0-525-51714-6

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: April 12, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2022

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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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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IMANI'S MOON

by JaNay Brown-Wood ; illustrated by Hazel Mitchell ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 14, 2014

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

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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)