A moving introduction to a tragic event.
In this tale inspired by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan, a young girl finds hope amid the darkness.
Hana gazes out her classroom window toward the sea and the plovers flying above her village. In front of her school sits the rock where she and her mother meet each day before walking home together. Suddenly, the ground shakes, and Hana’s teachers lead the students to safety. They watch the sea rise and overtake the village, “tossing cars and trucks like toys.” When Hana reunites with her father and Obaasan (Grandmother), she learns that her mother didn’t survive. “A wave, darker than the one that had taken their village, washed over Hana’s heart.” Maruno’s simple yet poignant prose gently carries young readers through Hana’s grief as, with Obaasan’s guidance, she discovers her mother’s paintbrush in the rubble and decides to paint images of plovers throughout the village, imbuing her frightening new world with a sense of hope. An author’s note explains that the book’s title is a Japanese word meaning “one thousand birds” and that it also refers to the plover, which represents resolve in the face of hardship; information on sumi-e painting is included. Featuring soft lines and a warm palette, Sato’s signature mixed-media artwork has a three-dimensional feel, well suited for young readers; it deftly evokes the power of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami on the town, as well as the people’s quiet sadness and recovery.
A moving introduction to a tragic event. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 11, 2025
ISBN: 9781772783162
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Pajama Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2025
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
Wins for compassion and for the refusal to let physical limitations hold one back.
With such short arms, how can Tiny T. Rex give a sad friend a hug?
Fleck goes for cute in the simple, minimally detailed illustrations, drawing the diminutive theropod with a chubby turquoise body and little nubs for limbs under a massive, squared-off head. Impelled by the sight of stegosaurian buddy Pointy looking glum, little Tiny sets out to attempt the seemingly impossible, a comforting hug. Having made the rounds seeking advice—the dino’s pea-green dad recommends math; purple, New Age aunt offers cucumber juice (“That is disgusting”); red mom tells him that it’s OK not to be able to hug (“You are tiny, but your heart is big!”), and blue and yellow older sibs suggest practice—Tiny takes up the last as the most immediately useful notion. Unfortunately, the “tree” the little reptile tries to hug turns out to be a pterodactyl’s leg. “Now I am falling,” Tiny notes in the consistently self-referential narrative. “I should not have let go.” Fortunately, Tiny lands on Pointy’s head, and the proclamation that though Rexes’ hugs may be tiny, “I will do my very best because you are my very best friend” proves just the mood-lightening ticket. “Thank you, Tiny. That was the biggest hug ever.” Young audiences always find the “clueless grown-ups” trope a knee-slapper, the overall tone never turns preachy, and Tiny’s instinctive kindness definitely puts him at (gentle) odds with the dinky dino star of Bob Shea’s Dinosaur Vs. series.
Wins for compassion and for the refusal to let physical limitations hold one back. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: March 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4521-7033-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 11, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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