bookshelf

WITH YOUR PAW IN MINE

Name: WITH YOUR PAW IN MINE
Author: Jane Chapman
ISBN: 978-1-68010-084-6

by Jane Chapman ; illustrated by Jane Chapman ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2018

Immersive, fluffy, and tailor-made for one-on-one storytime with caregivers and friends.

bookshelf

Paw in paw, two otter pups keep each other safe from a dangerous ocean storm.

When Mama goes hunting, she leaves her pup, Miki, alone to float safely on her back in a bed of seaweed. Waiting, Miki spots another “furry bundle” and paddles over to meet Amak, a pup who is also waiting for his mother. Recognizing that “waiting is lonely,” Miki offers to hold Amak’s paws until their grown-ups return. From that day forward, the two are inseparable—and the two mothers and two pups even snuggle up together at night. When a storm comes, the pups are again separated from their mothers, but, paw in paw, they keep each other safe. Whether taken literally or metaphorically, the book’s message resonates: “We all need someone’s paw to hold when the big waves come.” Though the story of friendship and community is timeless and endearing, Chapman’s signature acrylic artwork truly stands out as something special. The artist’s cool palette and spare, maritime scenery focus the art tightly on the characters and their small piece of the ocean. The lack of white space echoes the expansiveness of the sea.

Immersive, fluffy, and tailor-made for one-on-one storytime with caregivers and friends. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: March 1, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-68010-084-6

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Tiger Tales

Review Posted Online: Dec. 20, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
'TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS
by Clement C. Moore ; illustrated by Jane Chapman

- BOOK REVIEW
THE LITTLEST CHRISTMAS TREE
by Jane Chapman ; illustrated by Jane Chapman

- BOOK REVIEW
BEAR FINDS EGGS
by Karma Wilson ; illustrated by Jane Chapman

bookshelf

CARPENTER'S HELPER

by Sybil Rosen ; illustrated by Camille Garoche ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 16, 2021

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.

bookshelf

A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.

Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: March 16, 2021

ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random

Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

bookshelf

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...

bookshelf

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)