An irrepressible heroine in an effervescent book.
Young Edith—Eddie to her friends—goes looking for the perfect birthday present for her mother. Fortunately she has lots of friends.
Overhearing her sister say “birthday—Mommy—fuzzy—little—squishy," Eddie is determined to find a fabulous gift that matches that description for her mother. Off she hies around her cozy French neighborhood looking for fluffy little squishy things. None of her friends among the shopkeepers has anything that exactly fills the bill, but she collects a series of oddments that come in surprisingly handy when she espies the perfect fluffy little squishy gift: “an adorable little creature” that looks like a hot pink Koosh ball with snout and tail. It’s a “present with a thousand uses” (“personal masseuse,” “amazing hat,” “decorative plant,” and more, according to the accompanying diagram). A series of swaps finds the fluffy little squishy ready to give to Eddie’s mother. Alemegna gives her 5-1/2-year-old protagonist a bright pink cape that stands out against the bricks and cobbles of the neighborhood and exactly matches her perfect gift. Adult readers may be puzzled never to find out exactly what her sister was really getting at, but both they and children will be utterly charmed by Eddie’s positive spirit and ingenuity. She and her neighborhood are rendered in hand-drawn lines and smudgy coloring that have a 1960s aesthetic; a slightly oversized trim befits her big heart.
An irrepressible heroine in an effervescent book. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-59270-180-3
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Enchanted Lion Books
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2015
Being kind and helpful lights up the day from within in this inspiring and idyllic slice-of-life tale.
Actor, social media star, and entrepreneur Brown pens a joyful paean to positive thinking in her children’s debut.
Brown-skinned Tab rides a strawberry-themed bike, accompanied by a curly-haired black dog, Grady. Tab’s dazzling smile and wide eyes signal the upbeat theme echoed in the text, celebrating the sun’s warmth, which “fills everyone up with joy.” But Tab’s mood shifts, as it’s a “cloudy and gray” June day. Alert readers will spot the dog’s smiling countenance and note glimpses of sunny yellow butterflies and flowers. Mama’s reassurance that there’s “always a chance” for sunshine also underscores the optimism. Tab and Grady bike through suburban streets “to find the sun.” Along the way, the two stop to assist a neighbor building a birdhouse, loft a kite for friends Frankie and Fonte, and lend a hand to others, all while still having fun. Mama steers Tab toward an eventual understanding of the real source of joy: Though the sun didn’t appear, “I brightened everyone’s day!” The illustrations subtly underscore the message of this radiant story as touches of gold lighten the palette, which ends with sunny brilliance. Most characters read Black, though Tab’s community includes people who vary in skin tone, body type, and ability.
Being kind and helpful lights up the day from within in this inspiring and idyllic slice-of-life tale. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 11, 2025
ISBN: 9780063342262
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 21, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2025
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
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
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