A gentle, heartwarming introduction to the world of therapy dogs.
A little girl trains her young dog to be a therapy dog for residents of a retirement community.
Madeline Finn is a resourceful child who starred in two previous stories about therapy dogs. In the first story Madeline was helped in learning to read by a huge, white therapy dog named Bonnie, and in the second installment Madeline adopted one of Bonnie’s puppies, Star. Now Star is old enough to be trained by Madeline as a therapy dog with the help of Bonnie and her owner. Madeline practices with Star, and the pair then successfully complete a series of three tests at the retirement home. At each visit Madeline and Star reach out to an older man in a wheelchair, Mr. Humphrey, who at first will not speak or interact. The cheerful little girl and appealing dog keep trying to connect with Mr. Humphrey, and Madeline finally reaches him by reading aloud with Bonnie and Star at her side. The first-person present-tense story includes lots of dialogue and expressions of encouragement for both Madeline and Star. Charming, soft-focus illustrations provide extra details and capture the personalities of the determined child and irresistible dogs. Madeline presents white, Mr. Humphrey, black, and some of the other residents of the retirement home are also people of color. This touching story stands on its own, but fans of Madeline’s previous outings will particularly enjoy reading this account that ties all the previous tales together.
A gentle, heartwarming introduction to the world of therapy dogs. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-68263-149-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: May 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
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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