Annie, appealing as she is, lacks a voice. It will be difficult to make her someone children will want to know.
Annie loves to paint colorful pictures. But what happens to Annie when others don’t seem to share her excitement for them?
As classmates snicker and sadness overtakes Annie, her bright, colorful world fades to gray. Alone on the playground after school, Annie decides to try drawing again and creates a turquoise bird with uneven wings. Despite Annie’s shame at its imperfections, her bird magically flies off the page, trailing a turquoise swoop. With increasing cheer, she continues to draw, creating a colorful forest. At school the next day, she and the other students draw together again, this time all of them expressing joy with color. Unfortunately, this book’s plot is murky, starting with the fact that readers never learn why the children picked this “Wednesday, like any other,” to “giggle” and take “sneaky looks” at Annie’s pictures. Sadly, Annie does not talk to anyone about her feelings; she assumes how others feel about her pictures. Furthermore, the reason for her classmates’ sudden turnaround is likewise obscure. The flowery prose does not help children sort these issues out, but the draining of color from the scenes to gray is a nice representation of Annie’s emotional state. Annie herself, a little Black girl, is adorable, and her body language is expressive even though she never speaks; however, the black cloud that frequently floats over Annie’s head is clichéd. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Annie, appealing as she is, lacks a voice. It will be difficult to make her someone children will want to know. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Oct. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-11022-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2021
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share.
In this latest in the series, Little Blue Truck, driven by pal Toad, is challenged to a countryside race by Racer Red, a sleek, low-slung vehicle.
Blue agrees, and the race is on. Although the two start off “hood to hood / and wheel to wheel,” they switch positions often as they speed their way over dusty country roads. Blue’s farm friends follow along to share in the excitement and shout out encouragement; adult readers will have fun voicing the various animal sounds. Short rhyming verses on each page and several strategic page turns add drama to the narrative, but soft, mottled effects in the otherwise colorful illustrations keep the competition from becoming too intense. Racer Red crosses the finish line first, but Blue is a gracious loser, happy to have worked hard. That’s a new concept for Racer Red, who’s laser-focused on victory but takes Blue’s words (“win or lose, it’s fun to try!”) to heart—a revelation that may lead to worthwhile storytime discussions. When Blue’s farm animal friends hop into the truck for the ride home, Racer Red tags along and learns a second lesson, one about speed. “Fast is fun, / and slow is too, / as long as you’re / with friends.”
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9780063387843
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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