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
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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