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WHERE?

Name: WHERE?
Author: Jordan Collins
ISBN: 9781536232738

by Jordan Collins ; illustrated by Phil Lesnie ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 6, 2024

An unusual and inventive selection for beginning tough conversations with young readers.

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A child “straight from the center of the universe” faces a small-minded world.

The dark-skinned young narrator, wearing a striped woolen hat, fields the same question over and over: “Where are you from?” Words in different typefaces surround the child on the opening spread, and the protagonist pulls on the strings on the hat, seemingly for protection. The child wonders, “How am I supposed to respond?” Tumbling through a door in the clouds into a vast galaxy, the child declares, “I’m from the interiors of collapsing stars” and “the iridescent glow of a nebula.” The protagonist comes from the moons of Saturn and Pluto, from redwood trees and ocean tides, from voyagers and artists. The child continues even as others persist with the same question, which really means, “Why is your skin that color?” and “Why does your hair look like that?” But the child counters: “You see skin and I see supernovas.” Lesnie’s dazzlingly vivid illustrations immerse the child in a rich imaginative world, depicting lush green trees, rainbow nebulae, and luminous golden lanterns on dark water, in stark contrast to the more muted colors of the child’s real, harassed life. Though Collins’ reflective text doesn’t offer a simple resolution, the child nevertheless has the last, definitive words to settle the issue.

An unusual and inventive selection for beginning tough conversations with young readers. (a note from the creators) (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2024

ISBN: 9781536232738

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Candlewick

Review Posted Online: May 4, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2024

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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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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GRUMPY MONKEY

by Suzanne Lang ; illustrated by Max Lang ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 15, 2018

Though Jim may have been grumpy because a chimp’s an ape and not a monkey, readers will enjoy and maybe learn from his...

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It’s a wonderful day in the jungle, so why’s Jim Panzee so grumpy?

When Jim woke up, nothing was right: "The sun was too bright, the sky was too blue, and bananas were too sweet." Norman the gorilla asks Jim why he’s so grumpy, and Jim insists he’s not. They meet Marabou, to whom Norman confides that Jim’s grumpy. When Jim denies it again, Marabou points out that Jim’s shoulders are hunched; Jim stands up. When they meet Lemur, Lemur points out Jim’s bunchy eyebrows; Jim unbunches them. When he trips over Snake, Snake points out Jim’s frown…so Jim puts on a grimacelike smile. Everyone has suggestions to brighten his mood: dancing, singing, swinging, swimming…but Jim doesn’t feel like any of that. He gets so fed up, he yells at his animal friends and stomps off…then he feels sad about yelling. He and Norman (who regrets dancing with that porcupine) finally just have a sit and decide it’s a wonderful day to be grumpy—which, of course, makes them both feel a little better. Suzanne Lang’s encouragement to sit with your emotions (thus allowing them to pass) is nearly Buddhist in its take, and it will be great bibliotherapy for the crabby, cranky, and cross. Oscar-nominated animator Max Lang’s cartoony illustrations lighten the mood without making light of Jim’s mood; Jim has comically long arms, and his facial expressions are quite funny.

Though Jim may have been grumpy because a chimp’s an ape and not a monkey, readers will enjoy and maybe learn from his journey. (Picture book. 4-8)