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GINA KAMINSKI SAVES THE WOLF

Name: GINA KAMINSKI SAVES THE WOLF
Author: Craig Barr-Green
ISBN: 9781684647866

by Craig Barr-Green ; illustrated by Francis Martin ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 19, 2024

An exuberant, laugh-out-loud take on fairy tales that flawlessly incorporates social-emotional skills.

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“I am Gina Kaminski. I fix mistakes.”

Gina Kaminski, a plucky, precocious child with an eye for detail, is having a bad day at school, which the youngster maps on an emoji chart. Gina hears “Little Red Riding Hood” read aloud but doesn’t approve of the ending at all; three mistakes were made. Wouldn’t anyone eat the cake instead of carrying it all the way to Grandma’s? Why take a dangerous shortcut in the first place? And is there anything Gina can do to save the wolf? Unbeknownst to the teacher, Gina takes charge and enters the story, determined to find better answers and, in the process, turns a bad day around. Clever, sparkling text full of wit and humor perfectly captures Gina’s voice, while sketchy, humorous pictures with just the right amount of detail extend the story. Young readers and listeners will fall in love with clever, independent Gina, appreciate the tale’s suspense, learn how to disrupt a bad mood, and see classic stories with a new perspective. Upon revisiting the emoji chart, which is handily worked into the endpapers, Gina will likely choose a happier face this time! Gina and other human characters have skin the white of the page.

An exuberant, laugh-out-loud take on fairy tales that flawlessly incorporates social-emotional skills. (Picture book. 3-8)

Pub Date: March 19, 2024

ISBN: 9781684647866

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Kane Miller

Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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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

PETE THE CAT'S 12 GROOVY DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

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PETE THE CAT'S 12 GROOVY DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

by James Dean ; illustrated by James Dean ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 18, 2018

Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among

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Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.

If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”

Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)