bookshelf

THE HOMESICK CLUB

Name: THE HOMESICK CLUB
Author: Libby Martinez
ISBN: 978-1-77-306164-1

by Libby Martinez ; illustrated by Rebecca Gibbon ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 7, 2020

A beacon for all those missing home.

bookshelf

Two girls missing home find comfort in sharing their experiences.

Mónica and Hannah—founders of the “Homesick Club” and immigrants from Bolivia and Israel, respectively—empathize with newcomer teacher Miss Shelby when she shares her recent arrival to town from Texas. As Miss Shelby teaches lessons on the stars and the moon Mónica ties them to her own memories of Bolivia. Believing Miss Shelby must miss her home the way she longs for familiar hummingbirds and frogs, Mónica proposes inviting her to join the Homesick Club. But according to Hannah, who misses tortoises and the wind, she shouldn’t join because, “Miss Shelby is a teacher!” However, Mónica doesn’t give up in her effort to make Miss Shelby feel welcome. With a sprinkle of ecological science, a pinch of astronomy, and a dash of gastronomy, Martinez creates an empathetic love letter to immigrants and any person living far away from home. Paired with Gibbon’s friendly and detailed illustrations, the story is suffused with the longing of all that is left behind in a hometown or home country. A most pleasant and thoughtful detail in this endearing book is the spelling of the protagonist’s name (Mónica), which, by including the accent, further imbues the characters with cultural context. Mónica has brown skin and black hair; Hannah and Miss Shelby are both white with blonde hair.

A beacon for all those missing home. (recipe) (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: April 7, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-77-306164-1

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Groundwood

Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2020

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE
by Pat Mora ; Libby Martinez

- BOOK REVIEW
BRAVO, CHICO CANTA! BRAVO!
by Pat Mora ; Libby Martinez ; illustrated by Amelia Lau Carling

bookshelf

CARPENTER'S HELPER

by Sybil Rosen ; illustrated by Camille Garoche ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 16, 2021

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.

bookshelf

A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.

Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: March 16, 2021

ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random

Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

bookshelf

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...

bookshelf

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)