A sunny, optimistic, enjoyable view of school for any child transitioning into a new school environment.
New students will feel welcomed by this book celebrating their arrival to school.
With rhythmic, rhyming text and bright, torn-paper art, Moreillon and Stock take the new students on a tour of every room of the school to show how the current students and teachers are getting ready for them. Starting with the bright yellow school bus, the narrators invite the new student in. “Come in. Come in. Come in through this door. Are you new?” Turn the gatefold, and other children and the bus driver join in, “Your boisterous bus mates and the bus driver say, ‘We’re ready and waiting for you.’ ” Not only is the bus driver excited, but the crossing guards, neighborhood dogs, principal, mascot, school secretary, librarian and computer tech, gym, art and music teachers, and every other school employee is waiting for the new student to arrive. The sunny art will be a comfort to any parent who is trying to help his or her child make the transition to a new school. Any child making a change will find comfort here—whether it’s a preschooler or home-schooler entering a school for the very first time or a seasoned third-grader moving to a new school.
A sunny, optimistic, enjoyable view of school for any child transitioning into a new school environment. (Picture book. 4-9)Pub Date: May 21, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-8028-5355-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Eerdmans
Review Posted Online: June 25, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2013
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions.
Ellis, known for her illustrations for Colin Meloy’s Wildwood series, here riffs on the concept of “home.”
Shifting among homes mundane and speculative, contemporary and not, Ellis begins and ends with views of her own home and a peek into her studio. She highlights palaces and mansions, but she also takes readers to animal homes and a certain famously folkloric shoe (whose iconic Old Woman manages a passel of multiethnic kids absorbed in daring games). One spread showcases “some folks” who “live on the road”; a band unloads its tour bus in front of a theater marquee. Ellis’ compelling ink and gouache paintings, in a palette of blue-grays, sepia and brick red, depict scenes ranging from mythical, underwater Atlantis to a distant moonscape. Another spread, depicting a garden and large building under connected, transparent domes, invites readers to wonder: “Who in the world lives here? / And why?” (Earth is seen as a distant blue marble.) Some of Ellis’ chosen depictions, oddly juxtaposed and stripped of any historical or cultural context due to the stylized design and spare text, become stereotypical. “Some homes are boats. / Some homes are wigwams.” A sailing ship’s crew seems poised to land near a trio of men clad in breechcloths—otherwise unidentified and unremarked upon.
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6529-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
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