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SCROLL

Name: SCROLL
Author: Hui Li
ISBN: 9780316340731

by Hui Li ; illustrated by Hui Li ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 19, 2023

A fun and clever introduction to an ancient art form.

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A girl embarks on a fantastical adventure through a landscape permeated with calligraphy.

After a brief introduction that explains that the art form originated thousands of years ago in ancient China, when people carved pictographs into bones and shells, the story switches to the present day as Lulu watches Grandpa (both of whom are cued Chinese) draw on a large scroll. He shows her how ancient characters such as those for bird or mountain mimic the ideas they represent. When Lulu tries her hand at drawing, her character for door begins to glow, and the pictograph swings open. Lulu steps into a mysterious world, led by the same bird character that Grandpa had drawn. In this land, people and objects are illustrated using black-inked Chinese characters dancing among watercolor details and backgrounds—characters for grass are drawn clumped together in a green field, and the character for child bows to greet Lulu. The climax occurs when Lulu meets a calligraphic fire-breathing dragon and, using her brush like Harold’s purple crayon, draws her way to safety with the Chinese characters she needs. Much of the story is told in appealing vignettes and speech bubbles, and at the top of every page, readers will find pictures of the characters used in the illustration along with their English meanings, allowing kids to match the characters with their roles in the scene. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A fun and clever introduction to an ancient art form. (author’s note) (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2023

ISBN: 9780316340731

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Christy Ottaviano Books

Review Posted Online: June 21, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S HISTORICAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
RUNNING ACROSS AMERICA
by Dave McGillivray & Nancy Feehrer ; illustrated by Hui Li

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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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A BIKE LIKE SERGIO'S

by Maribeth Boelts ; illustrated by Noah Z. Jones ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 4, 2016

Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on...

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Continuing from their acclaimed Those Shoes (2007), Boelts and Jones entwine conversations on money, motives, and morality.

This second collaboration between author and illustrator is set within an urban multicultural streetscape, where brown-skinned protagonist Ruben wishes for a bike like his friend Sergio’s. He wishes, but Ruben knows too well the pressure his family feels to prioritize the essentials. While Sergio buys a pack of football cards from Sonny’s Grocery, Ruben must buy the bread his mom wants. A familiar lady drops what Ruben believes to be a $1 bill, but picking it up, to his shock, he discovers $100! Is this Ruben’s chance to get himself the bike of his dreams? In a fateful twist, Ruben loses track of the C-note and is sent into a panic. After finally finding it nestled deep in a backpack pocket, he comes to a sense of moral clarity: “I remember how it was for me when that money that was hers—then mine—was gone.” When he returns the bill to her, the lady offers Ruben her blessing, leaving him with double-dipped emotions, “happy and mixed up, full and empty.” Readers will be pleased that there’s no reward for Ruben’s choice of integrity beyond the priceless love and warmth of a family’s care and pride.

Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on children. (Picture book. 5-8)