bookshelf

MOVE IT, MISS MACINTOSH!

Name: MOVE IT, MISS MACINTOSH!
Author: Peggy Robbins Janousky
ISBN: 978-1-55451-863-0

by Peggy Robbins Janousky ; illustrated by Meghan Lands ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 13, 2016

A nicely diverse addition to the teacher-doesn’t-want-to-go-to-school shelf.

bookshelf

Miss Macintosh does not want to go to school.

She has barely enough time to pull the covers back over her head before Principal Bellwether is at the door with the rest of the faculty. In tag-team fashion, Mrs. Sketcher (art teacher), Mrs. Burger (lunch lady), Mr. Jitters (last year’s kindergarten teacher), Mr. Comfort (school nurse), Ms. Patience (guidance counselor), Miss Melody (music teacher), and Miss Bluebird (bus driver) chivvy her through a morning routine that will be familiar to small children. Kids will get a kick out of Miss Macintosh’s childlike behaviors, such as dawdling over her cereal. In her bustling cartoon illustrations, Lands depicts Miss Macintosh as a bespectacled white woman; her fellow teachers are a diverse lot, and the stereotype-busting casting of a man as the nurse and a black man as the principal is a welcome touch. Children will notice that despite a conversation about Miss Macintosh’s untied shoes (she doesn’t know how), her red shoes appear to be tied just fine. There’s no question that portraying the teacher as nervous on the first day of school is a good joke, but this relatively straightforward presentation lacks the clever reveal, and therefore the punch, of Julie Danneberg and Judy Love’s First Day Jitters (2000).

A nicely diverse addition to the teacher-doesn’t-want-to-go-to-school shelf. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-55451-863-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Annick Press

Review Posted Online: May 17, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
INVADER FROM MARS
by Peggy Robbins Janousky ; illustrated by Karen Obuhanych

bookshelf

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...

bookshelf

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

bookshelf

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.

bookshelf

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)