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WE REALLY DO CARE

Name: WE REALLY DO CARE
Author: Tami Lewis Brown
ISBN: 978-1-9848-3630-4

by Tami Lewis Brown ; illustrated by Tania de Regil ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 3, 2019

One-sidedness sinks this well-meaning tale.

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A tale of empathy and inclusion.

A white child and a brown-skinned child, both nameless and with button eyes and simply drawn facial features, cross paths in a peaceful city park. Initially, the white child emphatically claims ownership in bold phrases familiar to young ears: “My ball belongs to me,” and “You can’t have my mom.” In a turnkey double-page spread, a park scene on the left shows green grass, a gentle tree trunk, and the white child’s family on a picnic blanket, while across the gutter is vast negative space as the white child notices the brown-skinned child, alone, on the ground end of a seesaw. The negative space creates the pause. “Wait.” What unfolds is a series of broad questions about fear of loneliness and loss. The brown-skinned child plays and shares with the formerly possessive white child but never says a word. It is assumed the brown-skinned child does not have a family, and while the white family welcomes the lonely child, why that child is alone in the park is never resolved. While a lot can be said for unspoken understanding, the brown-skinned child’s voicelessness makes all the interactions feel one-sided and assumptive. A “we” narrative about caring unfurls, stretching to include families, nature, and animals across the world. While micro-interactions are inevitably connected to global networks of caring, the leap from sharing toys to global togetherness is preachy and contrived.

One-sidedness sinks this well-meaning tale. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-9848-3630-4

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Philomel

Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
ART IS LIFE
by Tami Lewis Brown ; illustrated by Keith Negley

- BOOK REVIEW
PERKIN'S PERFECT PURPLE
by Tami Lewis Brown & Debbie Loren Dunn ; illustrated by Francesca Sanna

- BOOK REVIEW
INSTRUCTIONS NOT INCLUDED
by Tami Lewis Brown & Debbie Loren Dunn ; illustrated by Chelsea Beck

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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)