ETTA EXTRAORDINAIRE GOES TO THE WHITE HOUSE

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ETTA EXTRAORDINAIRE GOES TO THE WHITE HOUSE

Name: ETTA EXTRAORDINAIRE GOES TO THE WHITE HOUSE
Author: Roda Ahmed
ISBN: 9780063295735

by Roda Ahmed & Charnaie Gordon ; illustrated by Chloe Burgett ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 10, 2024

A snazzy lesson in civics—and on rolling with the punches.

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Etta Extraordinaire is back and getting ready to take a trip to the U.S. capital.

As the school bus arrives in Washington, D.C., Etta’s thrilled to see the cherry blossoms blooming and the city turning “pink, pink, pink!” On the White House lawn, her teacher, Ms. Prabhu, tells the children they’ll vote on the day’s activities, “the same way they decide things” here in Washington. Chloe proposes playing hide-and-seek. Emilio wants to play tug-of-war. Isaac hopes to visit the Presidential Library. Etta suggests having a cherry blossom party on the lawn. The kids make speeches and put their ideas to a vote, and Etta’s wins in a landslide victory. She and her classmates lay down a blanket, prepare treats, decorate the lawn, and sit down to enjoy the fruits of their labor. But when it begins to rain, the kids must move the party indoors to the White House’s Red Room, and the party is a smashing success. Kitted out in a wide-brimmed pink hat, a star-patterned blue scarf, her lucky pearls, and a plaid skirt, Etta cuts a stylish figure in Burgett’s charming digital illustrations. She’s a confident, formidable presence, though she endures a few moments of uncertainty as the weather turns rainy; readers will find her relatable. Educators who are devising lesson plans related to voting will want to incorporate this tale. Etta is Black; her class is diverse.

A snazzy lesson in civics—and on rolling with the punches. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2024

ISBN: 9780063295735

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: June 15, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
ETTA EXTRAORDINAIRE
by Roda Ahmed & Charnaie Gordon ; illustrated by Chloe Burgett

- BOOK REVIEW
MAE AMONG THE STARS
by Roda Ahmed ; illustrated by Stasia Burrington

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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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TINY T. REX AND THE IMPOSSIBLE HUG

by Jonathan Stutzman ; illustrated by Jay Fleck ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 5, 2019

Wins for compassion and for the refusal to let physical limitations hold one back.

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With such short arms, how can Tiny T. Rex give a sad friend a hug?

Fleck goes for cute in the simple, minimally detailed illustrations, drawing the diminutive theropod with a chubby turquoise body and little nubs for limbs under a massive, squared-off head. Impelled by the sight of stegosaurian buddy Pointy looking glum, little Tiny sets out to attempt the seemingly impossible, a comforting hug. Having made the rounds seeking advice—the dino’s pea-green dad recommends math; purple, New Age aunt offers cucumber juice (“That is disgusting”); red mom tells him that it’s OK not to be able to hug (“You are tiny, but your heart is big!”), and blue and yellow older sibs suggest practice—Tiny takes up the last as the most immediately useful notion. Unfortunately, the “tree” the little reptile tries to hug turns out to be a pterodactyl’s leg. “Now I am falling,” Tiny notes in the consistently self-referential narrative. “I should not have let go.” Fortunately, Tiny lands on Pointy’s head, and the proclamation that though Rexes’ hugs may be tiny, “I will do my very best because you are my very best friend” proves just the mood-lightening ticket. “Thank you, Tiny. That was the biggest hug ever.” Young audiences always find the “clueless grown-ups” trope a knee-slapper, the overall tone never turns preachy, and Tiny’s instinctive kindness definitely puts him at (gentle) odds with the dinky dino star of Bob Shea’s Dinosaur Vs. series.

Wins for compassion and for the refusal to let physical limitations hold one back. (Picture book. 5-7)