An exhilarating story of discovering a unique passion and building a caring community.
A young skateboarder rolls with the punches.
Looking out the window, an Indigenous child watches a skateboarder roll past every day and imagines “riding…on the path that winds like a river.” Mom gives the young narrator her old skateboard, and the little one eagerly tries it out at the playground, the basketball court, and Auntie’s place. Like any novice skateboarder, the child takes a few tumbles; developing skill, coordination, and balance requires lots of practice. Finally, the protagonist is ready to hit the skatepark. Watching a “waterfall of skateboarders crashing down,” the child is initially intimidated. After the protagonist befriends several other new and uncertain skateboarders, they all gain enough confidence to take part. As time goes by, they motivate one another, forming tightknit bonds and encouraging other newcomers. Lacing her spare text with onomatopoeia (“cacussh!” “swoosh”), Flett (Cree-Métis) captures the rhythm of skateboarding. Her signature minimalist illustrations brim with energy, immersing readers in the action of the park. Swirls of color fill the page as skaters whiz by. Throughout, the Cree phrase “haw êkwa! Let’s go!” punctuates the tale, each refrain encouraging the child to take action. The artwork depicts a racially diverse group of skaters.
An exhilarating story of discovering a unique passion and building a caring community. (author’s note) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: May 7, 2024
ISBN: 9781771646109
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Greystone Kids
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2024
A must-own adaptation chock-full of such stuff as kids’ dreams are—and will be—made on.
Mirth, magic, and mischief abound in this picture-book retelling of one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays.
Ariel, the beloved sprite whose conjurings precipitate the eponymous tempest, gets top billing in this adaptation and recounts the narrative in the first person. Through Ariel’s eyes, readers are introduced to the powerful Prospero, his lovely daughter, Miranda, and the shipwrecked nobles who are brought to the island to right an ancient wrong. Ellinas’ picture book largely divests the tale of its colonialist underpinnings and breathes three-dimensional complexity into the major and minor characters. Caliban, for instance, is monstrous due to his callous treatment of Ariel rather than because he is racially coded as savage. Another delightful change is the depiction of Miranda, who emerges as an athletic, spirited, and beautiful nature-child whose charms are understandably irresistible to Prince Ferdinand. The text is perfectly matched by Ray’s jaw-droppingly beautiful illustrations, which will enchant readers from the front cover to the final curtain. The greens of the waters and the blues of the island’s night sky are so lush and inviting that readers will wish they could enter the book. Peppered throughout the story are italicized fragments of Shakespeare’s dialogue, giving both young and older readers something to enjoy. Large, granite-colored Caliban is plainly nonhuman; the human characters present white; Ariel is a translucent, paper white.
A must-own adaptation chock-full of such stuff as kids’ dreams are—and will be—made on. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: April 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5362-1144-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
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
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