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ELBERT IN THE AIR

Name: ELBERT IN THE AIR
Author: Monica Wesolowska
ISBN: 978-0-593-32520-9

by Monica Wesolowska ; illustrated by Jerome Pumphrey ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 21, 2023

A transcendent journey for families seeking affirming representations of those who march to their own beats.

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In this allegory celebrating individuality, Elbert finds true acceptance, aided by his loving mother.

After birth, Elbert begins to float, literally rising as he grows. His mother clambers ever higher to provide unconditional support: “If Elbert was born to float, I will let him.” Cavorting in the air, first among his toys and then above his yard, Elbert discovers despondency at 6: “Even on my birthday…no one else is up here.” At school, he deftly catches “the highest balls” and finds creative ways to play tag with his classmates at recess. Ma continues to reassure as Elbert’s increasing altitude literally puts classmates out of reach. “Just be yourself…and you’ll find friends.” She encourages him to make wishes—on birthday candles, on a shooting star—which symbolize the family’s commitment to Elbert’s existential quest. Wesolowska employs the Euro-folkloric motif of threes: At three stages in Elbert’s coming-of-age odyssey, a trio of naysayers offer feckless, often chilling advice designed to hobble him. But “Elbert was Elbert. No hook, no anchor, no law could bring him down!” Finally, Elbert finds “the world he’d always wished for!” Textured, gracefully composed digital art depicts Ma and Elbert enjoying a sky-high picnic among a group of the boy’s happily engaged peers; images that evoke Elbert’s toy blocks surround them. Both Elbert and his mother have brown skin and black textured hair, among diverse communities aloft and below. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A transcendent journey for families seeking affirming representations of those who march to their own beats. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Feb. 21, 2023

ISBN: 978-0-593-32520-9

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Dial Books

Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2022

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

- BOOK REVIEW
LEO + LEA
by Monica Wesolowska ; illustrated by Kenard Pak

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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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THE BIG CHEESE

From the Food Group series

by Jory John ; illustrated by Pete Oswald ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 7, 2023

From curds to riches, from meltdown to uplift—this multicourse romp delivers.

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A winning wheel of cheddar with braggadocio to match narrates a tale of comeuppance and redemption.

From humble beginnings among kitchen curds living “quiet lives of pasteurization,” the Big Cheese longs to be the best and builds success and renown based on proven skills and dependable results: “I stuck to the things I was good at.” When newcomer Wedge moves to the village of Curds-on-Whey, the Cheese’s star status wobbles and falls. Turns out that quiet, modest Wedge is also multitalented. At the annual Cheese-cathlon, Wedge bests six-time winner Cheese in every event, from the footrace and chess to hat making and bread buttering. A disappointed Cheese throws a full-blown tantrum before arriving at a moment of truth: Self-calming, conscious breathing permits deep relief that losing—even badly—does not result in disaster. A debrief with Wedge “that wasn’t all about me” leads to further realizations: Losing builds empathy for others; obsession with winning obscures “the joy of participating.” The chastened cheddar learns to reserve bragging for lifting up friends, because anyone can be the Big Cheese. More didactic and less pun-rich than previous entries in the Food Group series, this outing nevertheless couples a cheerful refrain with pithy life lessons that hit home. Oswald’s detailed, comical illustrations continue to provide laughs, including a spot with Cheese onstage doing a “CHED” talk.

From curds to riches, from meltdown to uplift—this multicourse romp delivers. (Picture book. 4-8)