By turns goofy and gross—a tale of fun surprises and deepened connections.
Cousins and on-again, off-again BFFs Tee and Dee compete over everything—even the gross stuff.
The girls will be spending their summer vacation on the tropical island where their aunt lives. Their rivalry reignites as soon as they arrive. When Auntie decides to make fruit smoothies, the two besties are tasked with collecting mangoes from the nearby trees. The simple job quickly turns into a contest. “I’m going to find the perfect mangoes,” declares Tee. “My mangoes are going to be the best,” replies Dee. And off they go, darting through the grove of trees, finding most of the golden offerings unsatisfactory. When the cousins notice something sparkly on the ground, collecting these “beautiful pebbles” swiftly becomes their new focus. Their game turns into another heated debate before the girls finally realize that their friendship is ultimately what matters most. The revelation that the pebbles are in fact goat poop brings this lively summer outing to a hilariously charming conclusion; both girls gaze in horror as the horned culprit munches on discarded mangoes. The cousins’ warm, picturesque island community is illustrated in bright colors. Latif’s cartoonish images feature motion lines and exaggerated facial expressions, while Young’s dialogue rings true. All characters present Black.
By turns goofy and gross—a tale of fun surprises and deepened connections. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: April 15, 2025
ISBN: 9781771475488
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Owlkids Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
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
While the blend of folklore, fantasy and realism is certainly far-fetched, Imani, with her winning personality, is a child...
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)Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-934133-57-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Mackinac Island Press
Review Posted Online: July 28, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2014
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