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MIRI'S MOVING DAY

Name: MIRI'S MOVING DAY
Author: Adam R. Chang
ISBN: 9798765603017

by Adam R. Chang & Stephanie Wildman ; illustrated by Dream Chen ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 5, 2024

A sweet story of a family blending traditions.

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Moving stirs up big emotions for a young Jewish Chinese child.

Miri blinks back tears; the little one will miss Mah Mah and Yeh Yeh (Cantonese for paternal grandmother and Mandarin/Cantonese for paternal grandfather, respectively), who look after Miri while Mom and Dad are at work. Miri will also miss the stone Chinese lions outside the family’s apartment. But as everyone packs up the furniture, Yeh Yeh and Miri’s other grandfather, Zayde (Yiddish for grandfather), take Miri out for ice cream. Yeh Yeh gives Miri a beautiful mezuzah case and explains, “There are no stone lions to guard your new apartment building, but you can hang this mezuzah at your door.” Zayde supplies the scroll to place inside, and they all head to Miri’s new apartment. The whole family gathers as Zayde says the special blessing; then they hang the mezuzah above the front door. Later, Zayde has another surprise for Miri: a pair of small carved red lions. Miri is adorable, but other characters are less consistent in their depiction from page to page, and details in the text aren’t always fleshed out (Mah Mah and Yeh Yeh were Miri’s caregivers before, so what will happen in their new home?). Nonetheless, the family’s love is palpable, and readers will appreciate how all four grandparents work to honor Miri’s heritage—Yeh Yeh mentions learning about mezuzahs from Zayde, while Bubbe (Miri’s maternal grandmother) and Mah Mah both prepare Shabbat dinner.

A sweet story of a family blending traditions. (authors’ note, glossary) (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2024

ISBN: 9798765603017

Page Count: 24

Publisher: Kar-Ben

Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2024

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S RELIGIOUS FICTION

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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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IT'S NOT EASY BEING A GHOST

From the It's Not Easy Being series

by Marilyn Sadler ; illustrated by Stephanie Laberis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 13, 2024

Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.

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A ghost longs to be scary, but none of the creepy personas she tries on fit.

Misty, a feline ghost with big green eyes and long whiskers, wants to be the frightening presence that her haunted house calls for, but sadly, she’s “too cute to be spooky.” She dons toilet paper to resemble a mummy, attempts to fly on a broom like a witch, and howls at the moon like a werewolf. Nothing works. She heads to a Halloween party dressed reluctantly as herself. When she arrives, her friends’ joyful screams reassure her that she’s great just as she is. Sadler’s message, though a familiar one, is delivered effectively in a charming, ghostly package. Misty truly is too precious to be frightening. Laberis depicts an endearingly spooky, all-animal cast—a frog witch, for instance, and a crocodilian mummy. Misty’s sidekick, a cheery little bat who lends support throughout, might be even more adorable than she is. Though Misty’s haunted house is filled with cobwebs and surrounded by jagged, leafless trees, the charming characters keep things from ever getting too frightening. The images will encourage lingering looks. Clearly, there’s plenty that makes Misty special just as she is—a takeaway that adults sharing the book with their little ones should be sure to drive home.

Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet. (Picture book. 4-6)