Next book

DAISY THE DAYDREAMER

Sweet, funny, and encouraging.

Daisy’s daydreaming always seems to get in the way.

Mrs. Dill announces that the class’s best listener will be the line leader on the field trip to the aquarium. Yearning to be line leader, Daisy tries to concentrate but becomes engrossed in drawing pictures of the lesson’s subject: octopuses. Her inattention results in another student being appointed line leader. But when Daisy shows her drawings to Mrs. Dill, her teacher announces that Daisy will be the class’s official aquarium artist. Without overtly labeling learning disabilities, Goldfinger offers sensitive yet hilarious reassurance about differences and creativity. The author/illustrator describes Daisy as having her “head in the clouds,” and a series of delightful images bring that statement to life. Daisy’s head is often obscured by an irregular blue cloud, and clouds gather as she tries to pay attention to Mrs. Dill. Early on, understated text mentions simple activities in Daisy’s life, while the illustrations show her imagination taking flight: As she brushes her teeth, she imagines herself as a rabbit; as she braids her hair, she envisions herself with Rapunzel-esque locks. The cartoonlike, mixed-media art is increasingly funny as it depicts the problems that accompany Daisy’s often scattered comprehension. In one scene, her mother tells her to fold her socks and feed her brother; a distracted Daisy ends up attempting to feed her socks and fold her sibling. Daisy is light-skinned, Mrs. Dill is brown-skinned, and the class is diverse.

Sweet, funny, and encouraging. (author’s note) (Picture book. 4-6)

Pub Date: March 12, 2024

ISBN: 9780823453559

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Neal Porter/Holiday House

Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024

Next book

THE HUGASAURUS

Gently models kindness and respect—positive behavior that can be applied daily.

A group of young “dinosauruses” go out into the world on their own.

A fuchsia little Hugasaurus and her Pappysaur (both of whom resemble Triceratops) have never been apart before, but Hugasaurus happily heads off with lunchbox in hand and “wonder in her heart” to make new friends. The story has a first-day-of-school feeling, but Hugasaurus doesn’t end up in a formal school environment; rather, she finds herself on a playground with other little prehistoric creatures, though no teacher or adult seems to be around. At first, the new friends laugh and play. But Hugasaurus’ pals begin to squabble, and play comes to a halt. As she wonders what to do, a fuzzy platypus playmate asks some wise questions (“What…would your Pappy say to do? / What makes YOU feel better?”), and Hugasaurus decides to give everyone a hug—though she remembers to ask permission first. Slowly, good humor is restored and play begins anew with promises to be slow to anger and, in general, to help create a kinder world. Short rhyming verses occasionally use near rhyme but also include fun pairs like ripples and double-triples. Featuring cozy illustrations of brightly colored creatures, the tale sends a strong message about appropriate and inappropriate ways to resolve conflict, the final pages restating the lesson plainly in a refrain that could become a classroom motto. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Gently models kindness and respect—positive behavior that can be applied daily. (Picture book. 4-6)

Pub Date: Dec. 6, 2022

ISBN: 978-1-338-82869-6

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic

Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022

Next book

ROBOT, GO BOT!

A straightforward tale of conflict and reconciliation for newly emergent readers? Not exactly, which raises it above the...

In this deceptively spare, very beginning reader, a girl assembles a robot and then treats it like a slave until it goes on strike.

Having put the robot together from a jumble of loose parts, the budding engineer issues an increasingly peremptory series of rhymed orders— “Throw, Bot. / Row, Bot”—that turn from playful activities like chasing bubbles in the yard to tasks like hoeing the garden, mowing the lawn and towing her around in a wagon. Jung crafts a robot with riveted edges, big googly eyes and a smile that turns down in stages to a scowl as the work is piled on. At last, the exhausted robot plops itself down, then in response to its tormentor’s angry “Don’t say no, Bot!” stomps off in a huff. In one to four spacious, sequential panels per spread, Jung develops both the plotline and the emotional conflict using smoothly modeled cartoon figures against monochromatic or minimally detailed backgrounds. The child’s commands, confined in small dialogue balloons, are rhymed until her repentant “Come on home, Bot” breaks the pattern but leads to a more equitable division of labor at the end.

A straightforward tale of conflict and reconciliation for newly emergent readers? Not exactly, which raises it above the rest. (Easy reader. 4-6)

Pub Date: June 25, 2013

ISBN: 978-0-375-87083-5

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: April 14, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2013

Close Quickview