IN-BETWEEN THINGS

Name: IN-BETWEEN THINGS
Author: Priscilla Tey
ISBN: 978-0-7636-8983-4

by Priscilla Tey ; illustrated by Priscilla Tey ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 22, 2018

An entertaining, original search-and-find for young cartographers mapping out their worlds, learning new ways to look and...

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What’s between this and that? In that spot between here and there? Young readers locate the answer in this playful picture book that calls attention to the in-between things.

The first double-page spread offers both a definition (“An in-between thing is a thing in the middle”) and a cheery illustration of a cozy, somewhat jumbled living room occupied by a corpulent charcoal cat and a long-faced hound dog. Identifying the spatial relationships within this eclectic interior world grows increasingly entertaining as the “in-between” starts cropping up all over. Aha! A round picture frame between two rectangular ones! A sock between the couch cushions! A glance exchanged between the cat and dog (both awkwardly atop furniture that keeps something between them and the floor)! Frolicsome rhyming verse accompanies these two pets during the course of their rambles around the house and outside, marking the in-between things along the way. Their sibling relationship (alternating between closeness and estrangement) and individual antics keep the giggles coming. Abundant lemony yellows and springtime greens imbue Tey’s soft mixed-media illustrations with a sunny brightness that lifts readers as they search for in-betweens at each page turn.

An entertaining, original search-and-find for young cartographers mapping out their worlds, learning new ways to look and make visual sense of the people, places, and things they encounter. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: May 22, 2018

ISBN: 978-0-7636-8983-4

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Candlewick

Review Posted Online: March 26, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S POETRY

- BOOK REVIEW
COUNTING IN DOG YEARS AND OTHER SASSY MATH POEMS
by Betsy Franco ; illustrated by Priscilla Tey

- BOOK REVIEW
TWITCHY WITCHY ITCH
by Priscilla Tey ; illustrated by Priscilla Tey

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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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A BIKE LIKE SERGIO'S

by Maribeth Boelts ; illustrated by Noah Z. Jones ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 4, 2016

Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on...

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Continuing from their acclaimed Those Shoes (2007), Boelts and Jones entwine conversations on money, motives, and morality.

This second collaboration between author and illustrator is set within an urban multicultural streetscape, where brown-skinned protagonist Ruben wishes for a bike like his friend Sergio’s. He wishes, but Ruben knows too well the pressure his family feels to prioritize the essentials. While Sergio buys a pack of football cards from Sonny’s Grocery, Ruben must buy the bread his mom wants. A familiar lady drops what Ruben believes to be a $1 bill, but picking it up, to his shock, he discovers $100! Is this Ruben’s chance to get himself the bike of his dreams? In a fateful twist, Ruben loses track of the C-note and is sent into a panic. After finally finding it nestled deep in a backpack pocket, he comes to a sense of moral clarity: “I remember how it was for me when that money that was hers—then mine—was gone.” When he returns the bill to her, the lady offers Ruben her blessing, leaving him with double-dipped emotions, “happy and mixed up, full and empty.” Readers will be pleased that there’s no reward for Ruben’s choice of integrity beyond the priceless love and warmth of a family’s care and pride.

Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on children. (Picture book. 5-8)