Both easy-reading and pleasantly thoughtful.
Rhyming couplets give an original explanation of the path from thoughts to words to action, with the art using community gardening as an example.
The artwork is light and playful, with figures—both human and animal—rendered with simple lines and varied skin tones and backgrounds in springtime colors. The protagonist is a light-skinned, blond child who stretches from bed beneath the first short verse, which starts with the book’s title. A gently puffy thought balloon containing flowers and bumblebees sprouts from the child’s head. Each double-page spread follows the child and that balloon through breakfast, the walk to school, and then the school day and what follows. As the child goes through these activities, the text continues with couplets that extend the metaphorical comparisons, saying that thoughts are “clouds,” “dreams,” “feelings,” “breath,” and more. The art is not particularly complementary to such notions as “beliefs, winds that inspire / When you feel low they lift you up higher” or “thoughts become words so please think your best.” However, its sweetness and whimsicality match the singsong nature of the text, both of which will hold the attention of little ones. Older readers will understand the sophisticated idea underneath the simplicity, as the child’s thoughts, communicated via words, lead to positive actions. “Actions are matter, thoughts that came true / Actions are words you decided to do.” Text and art come full circle on the final page. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-16-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Both easy-reading and pleasantly thoughtful. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: May 11, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-984814-36-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2021
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
Though Jim may have been grumpy because a chimp’s an ape and not a monkey, readers will enjoy and maybe learn from his...
It’s a wonderful day in the jungle, so why’s Jim Panzee so grumpy?
When Jim woke up, nothing was right: "The sun was too bright, the sky was too blue, and bananas were too sweet." Norman the gorilla asks Jim why he’s so grumpy, and Jim insists he’s not. They meet Marabou, to whom Norman confides that Jim’s grumpy. When Jim denies it again, Marabou points out that Jim’s shoulders are hunched; Jim stands up. When they meet Lemur, Lemur points out Jim’s bunchy eyebrows; Jim unbunches them. When he trips over Snake, Snake points out Jim’s frown…so Jim puts on a grimacelike smile. Everyone has suggestions to brighten his mood: dancing, singing, swinging, swimming…but Jim doesn’t feel like any of that. He gets so fed up, he yells at his animal friends and stomps off…then he feels sad about yelling. He and Norman (who regrets dancing with that porcupine) finally just have a sit and decide it’s a wonderful day to be grumpy—which, of course, makes them both feel a little better. Suzanne Lang’s encouragement to sit with your emotions (thus allowing them to pass) is nearly Buddhist in its take, and it will be great bibliotherapy for the crabby, cranky, and cross. Oscar-nominated animator Max Lang’s cartoony illustrations lighten the mood without making light of Jim’s mood; Jim has comically long arms, and his facial expressions are quite funny.
Though Jim may have been grumpy because a chimp’s an ape and not a monkey, readers will enjoy and maybe learn from his journey. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: May 15, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-553-53786-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Feb. 18, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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