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DADAJI'S PAINTBRUSH

Name: DADAJI'S PAINTBRUSH
Author: Rashmi Sirdeshpande
ISBN: 978-1-64614-172-2

by Rashmi Sirdeshpande ; illustrated by Ruchi Mhasane ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 30, 2022

A gentle, reassuring reminder that love lives on long after death.

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What endures after someone is gone?

A boy in a village in India loves to paint, just like Dadaji, his grandfather and constant companion. Dadaji dies, leaving the boy his best paintbrush, but the boy puts it aside—it hurts too much to even look at it. Months go by, and a young girl comes knocking, asking the boy to teach her to paint (“like your dadaji taught my mummy”), spilling color back into his life. As the children look at Dadaji’s paintings, they’re inspired—and the boy finally finds solace. This story of familial love and the special bond between grandparents and grandchildren wraps readers in a tight hug. Illustrations are in soft focus, almost like a flashback in a film, and Mhasane’s use of color, from spring-colored pastels to darker, gloomy grays, offers a key to the boy’s emotions as he deals with loss and finds healing. Though Dadaji’s death isn’t explicitly described in the text (the boy asks his grandfather never to leave him; a page turn reveals that “…one day, he did”), an image of Dadaji bent and frail offers a poignant explanation. Matching the tone of the artwork, Sirdeshpande’s words evoke a quiet, tender feeling. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A gentle, reassuring reminder that love lives on long after death. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2022

ISBN: 978-1-64614-172-2

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Levine Querido

Review Posted Online: May 10, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

- BOOK REVIEW
NEVER SHOW A T. REX A BOOK
by Rashmi Sirdeshpande ; illustrated by Diane Ewen

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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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IMANI'S MOON

by JaNay Brown-Wood ; illustrated by Hazel Mitchell ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 14, 2014

While the blend of folklore, fantasy and realism is certainly far-fetched, Imani, with her winning personality, is a child...

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Imani endures the insults heaped upon her by the other village children, but she never gives up her dreams.

The Masai girl is tiny compared to the other children, but she is full of imagination and perseverance. Luckily, she has a mother who believes in her and tells her stories that will fuel that imagination. Mama tells her about the moon goddess, Olapa, who wins over the sun god. She tells Imani about Anansi, the trickster spider who vanquishes a larger snake. (Troublingly, the fact that Anansi is a West African figure, not of the Masai, goes unaddressed in both text and author’s note.) Inspired, the tiny girl tries to find new ways to achieve her dream: to touch the moon. One day, after crashing to the ground yet again when her leafy wings fail, she is ready to forget her hopes. That night, she witnesses the adumu, the special warriors’ jumping dance. Imani wakes the next morning, determined to jump to the moon. After jumping all day, she reaches the moon, meets Olapa and receives a special present from the goddess, a small moon rock. Now she becomes the storyteller when she relates her adventure to Mama. The watercolor-and-graphite illustrations have been enhanced digitally, and the night scenes of storytelling and fantasy with their glowing stars and moons have a more powerful impact than the daytime scenes, with their blander colors.

While the blend of folklore, fantasy and realism is certainly far-fetched, Imani, with her winning personality, is a child to be admired. (Picture book. 5-8)