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WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH A ROCK?

Name: WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH A ROCK?
Author: Pat Zietlow Miller
ISBN: 978-1-72821-763-5

by Pat Zietlow Miller ; illustrated by Katie Kath ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 12, 2021

A delightful invitation.

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Rocks are varied and versatile—not unlike good friends.

Rocks often go ignored, the narrator remarks as a blue-haired White child explores along a stream. The text continues in second person as it explains what those who notice the “magic” underfoot know: You can do a lot with a rock. You can kick it down the street, following it along. You can skip it, drop it, collect more, and sort them. You can study them, use them for art, keep them, or share them with a good friend, then make new rock memories with that friend. The story’s opening draws readers right into the world of rock appreciation, as though it’s a secret society that’s free to join. The child’s adventures with rocks and making friends form a visual story that complements the conversational, conspiratorial text. By the end, the story widens its scope to sweet life lessons as it turns effortlessly toward friendship and the wisdom transferable from rock discovery to friend discovery (“Some sparkle right away, while others seem ordinary at first, but have treasure deep inside”). Endmatter offers information, advice, and further reading about rocks and rock collecting; the beautiful endpapers with artistic renderings of labeled samples of different kinds of rock are worth perusing in and of themselves. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A delightful invitation. (Picture book. 3-8)

Pub Date: Oct. 12, 2021

ISBN: 978-1-72821-763-5

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky

Review Posted Online: July 13, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

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UNSTOPPABLE JOHN
by Pat Zietlow Miller ; illustrated by Jerry Jordan

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LUPE LOPEZ
by e.E. Charlton-Trujillo & Pat Zietlow Miller ; illustrated by Joe Cepeda

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A GIRL CAN BUILD ANYTHING
by e.E. Charlton-Trujillo & Pat Zietlow Miller ; illustrated by Keisha Morris

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CARPENTER'S HELPER

by Sybil Rosen ; illustrated by Camille Garoche ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 16, 2021

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.

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A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.

Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: March 16, 2021

ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random

Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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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)