It feels fresh at the start, but it fizzles out.
An unseen narrator suggests a wide range of what-ifs, each playing out in a single scene among a group of animals.
Liwska’s animal group includes bears, mice, elephants, and more, but because they’re all drawn in the same range of browns and grays, with similar curved pencil hatchings for fur/skin, and closer to the same size than realism would dictate, they feel like a tightknit community. When one is depicted calling out a window to oblivious figures who are all wearing earbuds, the text—“What if no one could hear you?”—is truly upsetting. Some of the what-ifs pair as unsettling opposites: Across from “What if no one could hear you?” sits “What if everyone could?” as the same character vainly trying to attract attention before is now seen snoring in public. Many hypotheticals are tenderly humorous. “What if there was only one kind?”—and all tea was banana-flavored? What if a seed doesn’t grow—or does, but a bespectacled burrowing animal snaps off the carrot underground and eats it? Soft pencil drawings in a muted palette bring comfort to moments of concern. However, there’s an unexpected prescriptive turn. Moving from musings on vulnerability to ponderings such as “What if we all work together?” and “What if everyone shared?” the text shifts into banal hypotheticals that even the youngest readers will recognize as instructions. Nothing wrong with activism, but this is a bait-and-switch.
It feels fresh at the start, but it fizzles out. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: May 7, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-328-76701-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.
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)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9780593702901
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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