THE SOCIAL BUTTERFLY

Name: THE SOCIAL BUTTERFLY
Author: Beth Bracken
ISBN: 978-1-5158-1697-3

by Beth Bracken ; illustrated by Sofia Cardoso ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2018

The bugs’ world may distract readers from the tale’s didacticism, but the ones who need this message most are unlikely to...

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Charlotte loves school, learning, and being with her friends, but combining the three doesn’t work for anyone.

A whispering Charlotte and her friend miss Miss Flora’s announcement about “show-and-share” and bring nothing special the next day. Etta can’t finish her book when Charlotte’s talking to her, and Max is in a similar boat with his math worksheet. Lily, Ben, and Charlotte all feel hungry after they talk right through lunchtime. The next day, Charlotte’s classmates shush her and insist on listening and learning. Miss Flora points out that the things Charlotte loves about school are things her friends love too, but they can’t enjoy them for all the butterfly’s chatter. This aha moment sparks a change. Cardoso’s illustrations depict the characters as anthropomorphized insects. Charlotte has deep purple skin and purple puffball pigtails on top of her head. While most of the bugs have skin tones that match their natural colorations, some have pale or brown coloring and hair in a range of human shades. The fact that most of the insects’ mouths are perpetually wide open is rather distracting—kids may wonder how they can listen and talk at the same time. Also unfortunate is the fact that the darkest-skinned child, who is also the one with Afro-styled hair, is represented as the problem.

The bugs’ world may distract readers from the tale’s didacticism, but the ones who need this message most are unlikely to learn it here; they’re busy talking. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-5158-1697-3

Page Count: 33

Publisher: Capstone Young Readers

Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2017

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)