The picture-book equivalent of “It’s a Small World.”
Third in a series of informational picture books for preschoolers and early-elementary readers about children around the world (Families Around the World, 2014, etc.).
Children often wonder what it would be like to go to a different school. Each spread of this oversized picture book explores that question. Starting with Tamatoa, who attends a Cook Island school (where the children learn the Ura language and dance the hupa), the page turn finds Raphael in an international school in Singapore (where lo mein is just one of the canteen’s many lunch offerings). Further page turns bring readers to China, Kazakhstan, Ethiopia, Kenya (where Mathii lives in an orphanage), Turkey, Germany (a boarding school for Johannes), Denmark (part city school, part forest school), Venezuela, Honduras, the USA (home-schooled twin sisters) and finally, a First Nations school in Canada. There’s more than a bit of sameness to the flat, brightly colored, paper-doll–like illustrations, an irony given that the author has gone out of her way to present a welcome diversity of backgrounds. Each school looks well-funded, and there are no overcrowded or single-sex classrooms pictured. This volume could provide a starting place for classrooms that study children around the world, as the backmatter points children to organizations that raise funds for building schools and libraries internationally. These excellent resources give a more honest view of the state of international education than the book itself.
The picture-book equivalent of “It’s a Small World.” (Picture book. 3-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-77138-047-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2015
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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