A book for sharing, learning, and loving—one another and ourselves.
Meet Dimitri, a boy whose love spills over to those around him.
Dimitri, a young, sensitive boy with beige skin and dark hair, loves the world around him—the tree in the park, his friends, his teacher, the book they read at storytime, an old man in the park, the guinea pig, even the paintbrushes. He can’t help but tell everyone and everything how he feels. Sadly, others don’t respond the way he expects, making jokes, moving away from him, even rebuking him. Dejected, Dimitri isn’t sure he likes school anymore and asks his mother if he may stay home. Rather than disagree with him or minimize his anxiety, his mother instead gets him ready for school and, on their walk through the park, points out how people show their feelings to one another in lots of different ways, not just by saying, “I love you.” Dimitri is reassured and ready for a new day at school, where a surprise awaits him. Economical yet descriptive text carries readers through this quiet and heartwarming story that models a journey in social-emotional development. Poignant, childlike illustrations, rendered in primary colors and featuring textured backgrounds, offer young readers plenty of details to pore over (especially a recurring ladybug motif). Moreover, thoughtfully drawn and vigorously diverse characters—children and adults—fill each bright spread with everyday diversity and clearly model care for one another through their interactions.
A book for sharing, learning, and loving—one another and ourselves. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5362-1123-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
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
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.
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)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9780593702901
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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