A hopeful pandemic story featuring love, trust, and a sense of legacy.
An Indigenous child faces Covid-related stress and grief in Moon’s series picture book.
Kaiah, a young elementary school-age Native American girl, struggles with anxiety as the coronavirus first begins spreading across the country. Grandma Phoebe Bluebird teaches Kaiah grounding skills, including mindfulness and “Big belly breaths – four counts to breathe in and six counts to let go.” Grandma and Kaiah’s close relationship is particularly evident after the pandemic shuts down Kaiah’s school and dance studio. Moon addresses the challenges many children face with online learning: “Frozen screens, robotic voices, and headaches.” Kaiah misses her friends and “Spiraling thoughts made [her] miserable.” Grandma reassures her and helps her stay active by allowing her to help with gardening. Sadly, Grandma eventually gets sick and passes away; despite profound sadness, Kaiah remembers all her grandmother’s calming techniques, which she safely shares with elderly Covid-19 patients. Moon’s story is written in comfortably predictable rhyme, although occasionally the rhythm is awkward (“minds were frantic”/ “swim across the Atlantic”). Moon’s story will be particularly relatable to children who remember the pandemic’s earliest days, and the author ably weaves in calming skills and the stages of grief. Elements of the characters’ Native American culture (such as releasing lanterns) add dimensionality. Kanavaliuk’s illustrations are soft and colorful, supporting the text beautifully throughout.
A hopeful pandemic story featuring love, trust, and a sense of legacy.Pub Date: Dec. 2, 2023
ISBN: 9798989368617
Page Count: 38
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
New parents of daughters will eat these up and perhaps pass on the lessons learned.
All the reasons why a daughter needs a mother.
Each spread features an adorable cartoon animal parent-child pair on the recto opposite a rhyming verse: “I’ll always support you in giving your all / in every endeavor, the big and the small, / and be there to catch you in case you should fall. / I hope you believe this is true.” A virtually identical book, Why a Daughter Needs a Dad, publishes simultaneously. Both address standing up for yourself and your values, laughing to ease troubles, being thankful, valuing friendship, persevering and dreaming big, being truthful, thinking through decisions, and being open to differences, among other topics. Though the sentiments/life lessons here and in the companion title are heartfelt and important, there are much better ways to deliver them. These books are likely to go right over children’s heads and developmental levels (especially with the rather advanced vocabulary); their parents are the more likely audience, and for them, the books provide some coaching in what kids need to hear. The two books are largely interchangeable, especially since there are so few references to mom or dad, but one spread in each book reverts to stereotype: Dad balances the two-wheeler, and mom helps with clothing and hair styles. Since the books are separate, it aids in customization for many families.
New parents of daughters will eat these up and perhaps pass on the lessons learned. (Picture book. 4-8, adult)Pub Date: May 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4926-6781-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2019
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
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