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WE ARE LIONS!

Name: WE ARE LIONS!
Author: Jens Mattsson
ISBN: 9781773067018

by Jens Mattsson ; illustrated by Jenny Lucander ; translated by B.J. Woodstein ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 7, 2023

Inspired and sensitive storytelling that will help little ones make sense of a potentially disturbing topic.

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Two siblings must learn to be fierce in the face of a frightening new foe.

A boy and his little sibling (who narrates this story) love pretending to be lions—they roar and hunt and stalk the savanna. Until one day, big brother lion does not feel well and has to go to the doctor. Big brother must go to the hospital, where he looks like a caged lion surrounded by tubes and equipment. His mane begins to fall out, and he misses his pride. Playing at being lions helps the younger sibling grapple with their elder brother’s serious illness as patients in hospital hallways are, through the magic of imagination, transformed into the beasts of sub-Saharan Africa. In Lucander’s chaotic illustrations, dramatic overhead angles brilliantly evoke the turmoil this family confronts; in many scenes, objects are askew, and the parents look drawn and worried. Collage art brings to life the siblings’ vivid imagination as they race into the savanna to escape their troubles. Unsentimental yet brimming with emotion, Mattsson’s matter-of-fact text, translated from Swedish, makes the idea of childhood illness somehow more comprehensible to both adults and kids. While the story ends with the older sibling still sick in bed, it ends on a note of hope: “Soon we’ll go hunting again.” The siblings and their father are tan-skinned; their mother is lighter-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Inspired and sensitive storytelling that will help little ones make sense of a potentially disturbing topic. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: March 7, 2023

ISBN: 9781773067018

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Groundwood

Review Posted Online: April 11, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023

Categories:

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

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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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IMANI'S MOON

by JaNay Brown-Wood ; illustrated by Hazel Mitchell ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 14, 2014

While the blend of folklore, fantasy and realism is certainly far-fetched, Imani, with her winning personality, is a child...

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Imani endures the insults heaped upon her by the other village children, but she never gives up her dreams.

The Masai girl is tiny compared to the other children, but she is full of imagination and perseverance. Luckily, she has a mother who believes in her and tells her stories that will fuel that imagination. Mama tells her about the moon goddess, Olapa, who wins over the sun god. She tells Imani about Anansi, the trickster spider who vanquishes a larger snake. (Troublingly, the fact that Anansi is a West African figure, not of the Masai, goes unaddressed in both text and author’s note.) Inspired, the tiny girl tries to find new ways to achieve her dream: to touch the moon. One day, after crashing to the ground yet again when her leafy wings fail, she is ready to forget her hopes. That night, she witnesses the adumu, the special warriors’ jumping dance. Imani wakes the next morning, determined to jump to the moon. After jumping all day, she reaches the moon, meets Olapa and receives a special present from the goddess, a small moon rock. Now she becomes the storyteller when she relates her adventure to Mama. The watercolor-and-graphite illustrations have been enhanced digitally, and the night scenes of storytelling and fantasy with their glowing stars and moons have a more powerful impact than the daytime scenes, with their blander colors.

While the blend of folklore, fantasy and realism is certainly far-fetched, Imani, with her winning personality, is a child to be admired. (Picture book. 5-8)