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I AM A MASTERPIECE!

Name: I AM A MASTERPIECE!
Author: Mia Armstrong
ISBN: 9780593567975

AN EMPOWERING STORY ABOUT INCLUSIVITY AND GROWING UP WITH DOWN SYNDROME

by Mia Armstrong with Marissa Moss ; illustrated by Alexandra Thompson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 9, 2024

A celebration of self-advocacy, self-expression, and self-acceptance.

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Child actor and activist Armstrong, who has Down syndrome, embraces her uniqueness.

Mia likes herself just fine, but sometimes people “forget their manners” or act like she’s invisible—a shoe store clerk, for instance, addresses Mom instead of Mia until the child politely asserts herself. At school, though, everybody knows her. As her class draws self-portraits for Back-to-School Night, Mia knows exactly how to express “how happy I feel being me.” But her classmates criticize her work, and Mia feels invisible again. Then, remembering Mom’s reminders to be patient, Mia explains it’s a “double self-portrait,” a work that illustrates both how she feels and how she sees the world. Fortunately, “kids are faster than grown-ups at these kinds of things,” and her classmates understand. With candor and wry humor, Mia reminds kids and adults alike not to patronize people with Down syndrome. In a gently pointed scene, she wonders if others would be equally rude to very old, tall, or scaly people, and she imagines droll comebacks to nosy questions and blunt remarks. Asked if they’re “some kind of alien,” a reptilian, green-skinned plane passenger deadpans, “Is that a problem?” Mia’s enthusiasm and self-confidence radiate from Thompson’s energetic cartoon illustrations. The backmatter includes cartoon-style panels of Mia fielding frequently asked questions about Down syndrome. Mia and her family present white; background characters are diverse.

A celebration of self-advocacy, self-expression, and self-acceptance. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Jan. 9, 2024

ISBN: 9780593567975

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023

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)