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MARGOT AND THE MOON LANDING

Name: MARGOT AND THE MOON LANDING
Author: A.C. Fitzpatrick
ISBN: 978-1-77321-360-6

by A.C. Fitzpatrick ; illustrated by Erika Medina ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 14, 2020

A charming picture book about both a child and her obsessions and frustration, anger, and repair.

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Margot is interested in only one thing: space travel.

When she regales others with her knowledge, they steer her attention to other topics (her mother), or are “unimpressed” (her teacher), or would rather play kickball (her friends, a multiracial bunch). One night, Margot wishes she never had to talk about anything but space ever again. And lo—the next morning, she can only recite Neil Armstrong’s famous speech from the 1969 moon landing, greeting her mother with “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” instead of “good morning.” Throughout the day, Margot grows increasingly frustrated, and, that night in her bedroom, she explodes. She writes her feelings on her wall—in marker. But her mother, upon seeing the scrawled-up wall, does not reprimand Margot: She reads what Margot’s written and writes: “I hear you” alongside. The pair repairs the wall—and the relationship—and creates a space for Margot to write her thoughts. “Margot wasn’t sure when exactly her voice came back,” Fitzpatrick writes. “But she was glad she had someone there to hear it.” Medina’s empathetic illustrations skillfully convey Margot’s many emotions—hurt, frustration, anger—with color, expression, and perspective. Both Margot and her mother are brown skinned; their dinner of “dahl and rice” suggests they are of South Asian heritage.

A charming picture book about both a child and her obsessions and frustration, anger, and repair. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: April 14, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-77321-360-6

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Annick Press

Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

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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)