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ON ACCOUNT OF THE GUM

Name: ON ACCOUNT OF THE GUM
Author: Adam Rex
ISBN: 978-1-4521-8154-7

by Adam Rex ; illustrated by Adam Rex ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 6, 2020

A gloriously giggly tale glued together by a glob of very gooey gum.

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A series of silly and mostly unsuccessful solutions for removing a blob of bubble gum.

Conversational rhyme, cascading action, and dramatic page turns create a story of early-morning, get-ready-for-school chaos. Gum-wrapper endpaper illustrations collaged under a bubble gum–pink wash set the tone for escalating silliness that begins before the title page with illustrations of a kid falling asleep after blowing a bubble and ends a page turn after the last words. A narrator, never seen but ever helpful (“Okay: / We went on some websites. / And all of them swear…”) and increasingly harried (“All right, let’s get serious — / this is the plan: / We blow the gum out with a powerful fan. / Plus every few seconds we’ll pop a balloon”), will try anything to get the gum out: grass, a cat, noodles and bacon, a vacuum cleaner, a steaming pot of chili, and more. Full-page headshot illustrations capture the child’s reactions, including priceless eye rolls, fearful bug-eyes, and glassy-eyed resignation, until an unexpected solution stops the chaos in its tracks. The kid presents White, as do many depicted family members, but one, an older sibling perhaps, has brown skin. The punchline—that it’s school-picture day—arrives just in time to generate a fresh gale of giggles as the protagonist sits sans gum but with everything else still entangled in that hair.

A gloriously giggly tale glued together by a glob of very gooey gum. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-4521-8154-7

Page Count: 56

Publisher: Chronicle Books

Review Posted Online: June 29, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
TUMBLEBABY
by Adam Rex ; illustrated by Audrey Helen Weber

- BOOK REVIEW
THE STORY OF GUMLUCK AND THE DRAGON’S EGGS
by Adam Rex ; illustrated by Adam Rex

- BOOK REVIEW
THE STORY OF GUMLUCK THE WIZARD
by Adam Rex ; illustrated by Adam Rex

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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)