A celebration of the grandparent-grandchild bond and an immigration tale that any child missing home will relate to.
A young girl living in the United States misses her old life in an unnamed Central American country, particularly her beloved grandmother.
Rocio misses visits to Abuela’s grocery store, with its enticing smells and the soft, rustling sounds of handmade piñatas hanging from the ceiling. She misses Abuela’s buñuelos (fried dough fritters), special coffee, and tortillas, and she fondly recalls how she and her grandmother used to gaze at the night sky at bedtime. On the morning of Rocio’s birthday, she is excited and moved to discover that Abuela has sent her a package containing “a dazzling star made of bright ruffled paper”; a stack of tortillas wrapped in a cloth with Rocio’s name stitched on it; and a picture of Abuela and other relatives holding a happy-birthday banner. “Con mucho amor. / With lots of love,” the writing on the package reads. That night, Rocio blows a kiss through her window that travels far across the night sky to eventually land on Abuela’s cheek “with lots of love.” The striking digital artwork incorporates dynamic patterns and flowing lines that add liveliness, balancing the rather bland, albeit sweet, text. All characters have straight black hair and terra-cotta–colored skin except for Rocio’s light-skinned mother. Visual cues suggest that Rocio lives in a suburban neighborhood, and may lead some readers to conclude her grandmother lives in Mexico. Some Spanish terms, like pan dulce and Las Mañanitas, are sprinkled throughout the story.
A celebration of the grandparent-grandchild bond and an immigration tale that any child missing home will relate to. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 8, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-20500-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Jan. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2022
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share.
In this latest in the series, Little Blue Truck, driven by pal Toad, is challenged to a countryside race by Racer Red, a sleek, low-slung vehicle.
Blue agrees, and the race is on. Although the two start off “hood to hood / and wheel to wheel,” they switch positions often as they speed their way over dusty country roads. Blue’s farm friends follow along to share in the excitement and shout out encouragement; adult readers will have fun voicing the various animal sounds. Short rhyming verses on each page and several strategic page turns add drama to the narrative, but soft, mottled effects in the otherwise colorful illustrations keep the competition from becoming too intense. Racer Red crosses the finish line first, but Blue is a gracious loser, happy to have worked hard. That’s a new concept for Racer Red, who’s laser-focused on victory but takes Blue’s words (“win or lose, it’s fun to try!”) to heart—a revelation that may lead to worthwhile storytime discussions. When Blue’s farm animal friends hop into the truck for the ride home, Racer Red tags along and learns a second lesson, one about speed. “Fast is fun, / and slow is too, / as long as you’re / with friends.”
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9780063387843
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
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
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