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SPARKLY NEW FRIENDS

Name: SPARKLY NEW FRIENDS
Author: Heather Ayris Burnell
ISBN: 978-1-338-32902-5

From the Unicorn and Yeti series , Vol. 1

by Heather Ayris Burnell ; illustrated by Hazel Quintanilla ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 30, 2019

Sparkly, innocent, feel-good fun for readers needing just a bit of extra support before moving on to chapter books.

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In this new series debut, a yeti and a unicorn bond over sparkles and snow.

While flying over mountains, Unicorn spots the sparkly snow below and decides to take a closer look. Beneath, Yeti spots sparkles too—Unicorn’s! The sparkles get closer and closer until—CRASH!—Unicorn collides with Yeti. Apologies pave the way for a newfound friendship, but Yeti doesn’t see snow as sparkly and thinks Unicorn may be just a “tricky, sparkly horse with a horn.” So Unicorn takes Yeti up into the clouds to see the sparkle Yeti couldn’t see before. Two more stories follow—a grand total of three stand-alone chapters—that further delve into themes of friendship. The comic-book layout is a predictable mix of full-page panels and two to four panel spreads. Unicorn speaks in orange speech bubbles, while Yeti’s are purple. This helps readers decode some fairly complex speech-bubble arrangements, such as when multiple bubbles connect during a long conversation. The (nearly) all-dialogue story is accessible, but the lack of repetitive vocabulary skews it toward more fluent readers. Quintanilla’s distinct color palette mixes warm oranges with cool blues and purples, creating an expressive, inviting cartoon world. The final page includes instructions on how to draw Unicorn as well as a few simple creative prompts.

Sparkly, innocent, feel-good fun for readers needing just a bit of extra support before moving on to chapter books. (Graphic early reader. 4-7)

Pub Date: April 30, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-338-32902-5

Page Count: 64

Publisher: Acorn/Scholastic

Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019

Categories:

CHILDREN'S DRAGONS & MYTHICAL CREATURES | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
A GOOD TEAM
by Heather Ayris Burnell ; illustrated by Hazel Quintanilla

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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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IT'S NOT EASY BEING A GHOST

From the It's Not Easy Being series

by Marilyn Sadler ; illustrated by Stephanie Laberis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 13, 2024

Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.

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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)