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TINY PIE

Name: TINY PIE
Author: Mark Bailey
ISBN: 978-0-7624-4482-3

by Mark Bailey ; Michael Oatman ; illustrated by Edward Hemingway ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 7, 2013

A muddle.

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Ellie the elephant learns to make a tiny apple pie.

Ellie is brushed off during a “grown-up party,” but instead of going to bed, she makes an amazing discovery. Inside the little mouse hole is a TV studio where a mouse chef is teaching the audience to make a tiny apple pie. To rhyming couplets, Ellie learns about mixing and rolling out dough, chopping apples and seasoning the pies. It took four people to create this confusing concoction: two writers, one illustrator and chef Alice Waters, whose Edible Schoolyard Project is to receive a portion of the proceeds from sales of this book. Busy, bright illustrations show an array of animals wearing everything from tuxedos to evening dresses to a chef’s coat. Children will empathize when Ellie is left out of the adult party because she is too little, but the transition from her view through the mouse hole to what appears to be a dream sequence is far harder to gauge. Also, the story starts at bedtime but ends with mom and dad discovering her snoozing on the floor in front of the mouse hole and then making pie with Ellie. What happened to her sleep or to their party? Another quibble: The pies shown in the kitchen scenes and on the recipe page are two-crust pies, while Waters’ recipe is for a never-pictured turnover. The recipe is lengthy and complicated.

A muddle. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: May 7, 2013

ISBN: 978-0-7624-4482-3

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Running Press

Review Posted Online: March 19, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
ON THE FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

- BOOK REVIEW
FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

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IT'S NOT EASY BEING A GHOST

From the It's Not Easy Being series

by Marilyn Sadler ; illustrated by Stephanie Laberis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 13, 2024

Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.

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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)