Astute and adorable commentary on media representation.
A red panda notices that media is dominated by giant pandas.
One day, Red (an adorable red panda) and her friend Gee (an equally cute black-and-white giant panda) find a book about pandas. Red’s initial excitement turns to disappointment when she sees that the entire book is about giant pandas, with nary a red panda in sight. “Who wrote this anyway!?” she fumes. “Ohhhhhhh!” says Gee as they spot a giant panda’s author photo on the back flap. Red decides to write her own book about red pandas, but as the pair walk through the town, readers will notice all the giant panda merchandise (even red panda children have black-and-white dolls), including the bookstore display. “No one wants to read about red pandas,” Red concludes and tosses her half-finished book away. Later, the friends find a group of pandas crowded around her unfinished book. “That one looks just like me!” one red panda points out. They tell Red that they want and need this book, which inspires her to persevere. Greanias illustrates perfectly, in a way that children will intuitively understand, why it’s so crucial for everyone to see themselves depicted in media; Iwai’s lovable panda characters, rendered in colorful watercolor, pencil, and digital tools, are irresistible. A final joyful spread portrays a future in which both types of pandas are represented everywhere, and crayon-drawn endpapers show pages from Red’s book. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Astute and adorable commentary on media representation. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2023
ISBN: 9781728265650
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
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
While the blend of folklore, fantasy and realism is certainly far-fetched, Imani, with her winning personality, is a child...
Imani endures the insults heaped upon her by the other village children, but she never gives up her dreams.
The Masai girl is tiny compared to the other children, but she is full of imagination and perseverance. Luckily, she has a mother who believes in her and tells her stories that will fuel that imagination. Mama tells her about the moon goddess, Olapa, who wins over the sun god. She tells Imani about Anansi, the trickster spider who vanquishes a larger snake. (Troublingly, the fact that Anansi is a West African figure, not of the Masai, goes unaddressed in both text and author’s note.) Inspired, the tiny girl tries to find new ways to achieve her dream: to touch the moon. One day, after crashing to the ground yet again when her leafy wings fail, she is ready to forget her hopes. That night, she witnesses the adumu, the special warriors’ jumping dance. Imani wakes the next morning, determined to jump to the moon. After jumping all day, she reaches the moon, meets Olapa and receives a special present from the goddess, a small moon rock. Now she becomes the storyteller when she relates her adventure to Mama. The watercolor-and-graphite illustrations have been enhanced digitally, and the night scenes of storytelling and fantasy with their glowing stars and moons have a more powerful impact than the daytime scenes, with their blander colors.
While the blend of folklore, fantasy and realism is certainly far-fetched, Imani, with her winning personality, is a child to be admired. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-934133-57-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Mackinac Island Press
Review Posted Online: July 28, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2014
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