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ME, TOO!

Name: ME, TOO!
Author: Annika Dunklee
ISBN: 978-1-77138-104-8

by Annika Dunklee ; illustrated by Lori Joy Smith ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2015

With its familiar themes and fizzy text, this is one both listeners and readers will enjoy.

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Annie is worried when her best friend, Lillemor, befriends Lilianne, the new girl at school.

Annie likes the fact that she and Lillemor have so much in common, which she enumerates in large faux handwritten letters. The fourth reason adds humor to the already lighthearted art and text, when Annie declares that the girls “can both speak another language.” A genuine Swedish phrase comes from Lillemor’s cartoon bubble, translated on the page as “I can speak Swedish,” but Annie’s bubble reads, “Maka looka Oinky Boinky,” translated as, “I can speak Oinky Boinky.” Annie is worried when, instead of receiving her usual hug from Lillemor as she arrives at school one day, she sees Lillemor jumping rope with Lilianne. Her alarm rises as she notes all of the commonalities the other two girls share. All three girls have large heads with friendly faces on small bodies, with differing skin tones and hairdos. The backgrounds are simple, brightly colored and cartoonlike, making good use of negative space. There is no doubt that a happy ending is coming; the silliness and the frequent translations of phrases in three languages (two legitimate and one made up) are what will keep readers engaged. Besides, who can resist reading aloud such phrases as, “Maka kooka Uugghhh!” and “Ooga booga meow!”?

With its familiar themes and fizzy text, this is one both listeners and readers will enjoy. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: April 1, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-77138-104-8

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Kids Can

Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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by Annika Dunklee ; illustrated by Yong Ling Kang

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by Annika Dunklee ; illustrated by Brian Won

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SPROUT, SEED, SPROUT!
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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)