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THE BAREFOOT KING

Name: THE BAREFOOT KING
Author: Andrew Jordan Nance
ISBN: 978-1-61180-748-6

A STORY ABOUT FEELING FRUSTRATED

by Andrew Jordan Nance ; illustrated by Olivia Holden ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 19, 2020

A good first peep at mindfulness training if not at Buddhism.

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King Creet’s preventative measures for stubbed toes are just unsustainable.

“Long ago there was a young king named Creet. / In his land, people walked with bare feet.” The king’s mind has a tendency to wander, and he’s easily distracted; one day, as he walks down a country road, he stubs his toe most painfully. His solution, after a restless night, is to cover the entire country with soft leather. Everyone in the kingdom works to get it done…but the solution causes slick roads and keeps the rain from the soil. When the king consults his ministers, the wisest offers some mindful advice. With a little thought, mind training, and a little leather—on his feet—the issue is solved. Writer, acting teacher, and mindfulness proponent Nance bases his fable about the origin of shoes on a quote from eighth-century monk Shantideva’s long poem of Buddhist instruction, A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life. The passable couplets get the job done, though without any explicitly Buddhist content, and Holden’s bright illustrations make the tale friendly and inviting. Creet’s kingdom is racially diverse (Creet himself has light-brown skin and black hair), and its inhabitants wear tunics, loose trousers, robes, and the occasional turban. An author’s note locates the origin of footwear in Mesopotamia and discusses the inspirational source material.

A good first peep at mindfulness training if not at Buddhism. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: June 19, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-61180-748-6

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Bala Kids/Shambhala

Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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CARPENTER'S HELPER

by Sybil Rosen ; illustrated by Camille Garoche ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 16, 2021

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.

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A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.

Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: March 16, 2021

ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random

Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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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)