A powerful message about the support of friends and defusing a bully wrapped in a sweet Valentine tale.
While Dewey Dew is adjusting well to life on Earth, he still has trouble with a few things, mostly the pronunciation of the word “love” and the bully at school.
The first one can be a problem, especially in the month of February, when “wuhbuh” is on everyone’s mind. His mother tries to help him, but Dewey’s frustration rises to tantrum levels. Her soothing reassurance, “Shee shoo-shoo tanna-wattoo,” sounds “like honey and birds’ wings and safety and singing,” and it’s easy for Dewey Dew to say. But that doesn’t help when faced with Brutus Auralias’ taunting “Wubbah Boy.” “Dewey’s urdle tightened. His eyeball squeezed. Blue-black smoke rose dangerously from his hork.” Just in time his loyal friends save the day, twice in fact. But the teasing leaves Dewey Dew fantasizing about leaving Earth behind…until he devises a solution that encapsulates the sentiment behind Valentine’s Day: he teaches his class to say “I love you” in his language. And they have just as much trouble with it as he has with the word “love.” His effort brings the whole class together, even Brutus. Mack’s pencil, watercolor, and digital illustrations work in tandem with Staub’s marvelously inventive language to ensure readers understand Dewey’s Eighty-N words. And the characters’ facial expressions and posture speak volumes all on their own.
A powerful message about the support of friends and defusing a bully wrapped in a sweet Valentine tale. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 10, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-62979-497-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.
A ghost longs to be scary, but none of the creepy personas she tries on fit.
Misty, a feline ghost with big green eyes and long whiskers, wants to be the frightening presence that her haunted house calls for, but sadly, she’s “too cute to be spooky.” She dons toilet paper to resemble a mummy, attempts to fly on a broom like a witch, and howls at the moon like a werewolf. Nothing works. She heads to a Halloween party dressed reluctantly as herself. When she arrives, her friends’ joyful screams reassure her that she’s great just as she is. Sadler’s message, though a familiar one, is delivered effectively in a charming, ghostly package. Misty truly is too precious to be frightening. Laberis depicts an endearingly spooky, all-animal cast—a frog witch, for instance, and a crocodilian mummy. Misty’s sidekick, a cheery little bat who lends support throughout, might be even more adorable than she is. Though Misty’s haunted house is filled with cobwebs and surrounded by jagged, leafless trees, the charming characters keep things from ever getting too frightening. The images will encourage lingering looks. Clearly, there’s plenty that makes Misty special just as she is—a takeaway that adults sharing the book with their little ones should be sure to drive home.
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9780593702901
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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