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OURS

Name: OURS
Author: Ruth Forman
ISBN: 978-1-66590-305-9

by Ruth Forman ; illustrated by Talia Skyles ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 30, 2022

Effortlessly uplifting.

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A message of self-love and friendship and a pronoun primer wrapped into one.

Bright, vibrant pages greet readers as young Black children happily get ready for an outing to the park. One fastidiously applies sunscreen, another ties up electric-blue kicks, and a third adjusts a ball cap to just the right angle before each of them heads out. A fourth friend meets up with them at the park, and the friends have some truly ’til-the-streetlights-come-on fun. Simple text highlighting different pronouns with repetition accompanies each spread: “I love mine / mine” and “she loves hers / hers” steadily building to “you love yours?” set next to a small mirror for readers to practice a bit of self-love as well. And while the question of whether all this love is for rich melanin or clouds of coils or fabulous style or something harder to see is up to readers, the text turns from ambiguity to end on the certainty that love is for “always, always!” During such a boom of introductory pronoun books, it is difficult not to see the absence of gender-neutral or gender-expansive pronouns here as a missed opportunity. However, such simple text does leave some room for young nonbinary or gender-open readers to see themselves in “I love theirs.” (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Effortlessly uplifting. (Board book. 0-3)

Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2022

ISBN: 978-1-66590-305-9

Page Count: 24

Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
LIKE SO
by Ruth Forman ; illustrated by Raissa Figueroa

- BOOK REVIEW
YOUNG CORNROWS CALLIN OUT THE MOON
by Ruth Forman & illustrated by Cbabi Bayoc

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CARPENTER'S HELPER

by Sybil Rosen ; illustrated by Camille Garoche ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 16, 2021

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.

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A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.

Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: March 16, 2021

ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random

Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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LITTLE RED SLEIGH

by Erin Guendelsberger ; illustrated by Elizaveta Tretyakova ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2020

Sadly, the storytelling runs aground.

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A little red sleigh has big Christmas dreams.

Although the detailed, full-color art doesn’t anthropomorphize the protagonist (which readers will likely identify as a sled and not a sleigh), a close third-person text affords the object thoughts and feelings while assigning feminine pronouns. “She longed to become Santa’s big red sleigh,” reads an early line establishing the sleigh’s motivation to leave her Christmas-shop home for the North Pole. Other toys discourage her, but she perseveres despite creeping self-doubt. A train and truck help the sleigh along, and when she wishes she were big, fast, and powerful like them, they offer encouragement and counsel patience. When a storm descends after the sleigh strikes out on her own, an unnamed girl playing in the snow brings her to a group of children who all take turns riding the sleigh down a hill. When the girl brings her home, the sleigh is crestfallen she didn’t reach the North Pole. A convoluted happily-ever-after ending shows a note from Santa that thanks the sleigh for giving children joy and invites her to the North Pole next year. “At last she understood what she was meant to do. She would build her life up spreading joy, one child at a time.” Will she leave the girl’s house to be gifted to other children? Will she stay and somehow also reach ever more children? Readers will be left wondering. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-18-inch double-page spreads viewed at 31.8% of actual size.)

Sadly, the storytelling runs aground. (Picture book. 3-6)