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MARCEL WITH A SPLASH

Name: MARCEL WITH A SPLASH
Author: Julia Sørensen
ISBN: 9781773069838

by Julia Sørensen ; illustrated by Julia Sørensen ; translated by Shelley Tanaka ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 4, 2025

Warm and welcoming.

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This import, translated from French, introduces a child with Down syndrome.

When Marcel is born, his mom’s unfazed by his webbed toes—Marcel’s a Pisces, after all. But when doctors notice Marcel’s “almond-shaped eyes,” the “single crease on his palm,” and more, he’s diagnosed with Down syndrome. Marcel’s parents, unsure how to feel, “bury those strange words at the bottom of the garden” and “leave them to grow in their own time.” Marcel grows, too. Some things are harder to learn, but he’s persistent. Though some kids in Marcel’s village exclude him, Anthony thinks he’s funny, and Melody understands him even though he doesn’t talk. And when Marcel meets Esther, a woman with Down syndrome who lives independently, she helps his parents put his diagnosis “in a vase with some pretty flowers.” Soon Marcel will start school with support—and, like any kid, will look forward to summer vacation. Sørensen, the mother of a child with Down syndrome, reassures kids and parents alike that people with this condition are multifaceted individuals, which her pale ink-and-colored pencil illustrations gently demonstrate. While the choice to bury and later display Marcel’s diagnosis aptly symbolizes his parents’ acceptance, the depiction of the “words” as chromosomes in the corresponding illustrations may confuse younger readers; Down syndrome is undefined in the text. But readers won’t need definitions to understand the most important thing: Marcel is “just like any kid who loves to be silly.” Characters have light skin.

Warm and welcoming. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2025

ISBN: 9781773069838

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Groundwood

Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025

Categories:

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)