A comforting journey through the night sky, down to Earth, and back again.
A father shares a celestial creation story passed down through generations in Telleria’s picture book.
By a campfire deep in a forest, a child asks, “Hey Dad… how was the world made?” Recalling what his own father told him, Dad explains that in the beginning there was only the Great Spirit and his starry animal children in the black nothingness. The Great Spirit made a round blue “Something,” and Whale, Salmon, Bear, Moose, Buffalo, and the others dove into it, and shaped its oceans, land, mountains, trees, and rivers as they played. Water Snake, for instance, slithers from the ocean to the land creating rivers behind her. Eventually, the animals return to their starry forms. Konkol’s fantasy illustrations show vast skies and landscapes in rich, dark blues and greens, flaming reds, and white light; detailed linework gives texture to trees and animals. In their constellation-like form, the animals are fun to identify. The prose tells a complex tale in simple terms, returning at the end to Dad and his kid. A refrain (“The animals in the stars that made it”) in the beginning is poetically echoed by the whispering fire and the darkness. The book beautifully honors the way stories are passed down through generations, and the majesty of the natural world.
A comforting journey through the night sky, down to Earth, and back again.Pub Date: Jan. 9, 2024
ISBN: 9798218417253
Page Count: 54
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Nice enough but not worth repeat reads.
Emma deals with jitters before playing the guitar in the school talent show.
Pop musician Kevin Jonas and his wife, Danielle, put performance at the center of their picture-book debut. When Emma is intimidated by her very talented friends, the encouragement of her younger sister, Bella, and the support of her family help her to shine her own light. The story is straightforward and the moral familiar: Draw strength from your family and within to overcome your fears. Employing the performance-anxiety trope that’s been written many times over, the book plods along predictably—there’s nothing really new or surprising here. Dawson’s full-color digital illustrations center a White-presenting family along with Emma’s three friends of color: Jamila has tanned skin and wears a hijab; Wendy has dark brown skin and Afro puffs; and Luis has medium brown skin. Emma’s expressive eyes and face are the real draw of the artwork—from worry to embarrassment to joy, it’s clear what she’s feeling. A standout double-page spread depicts Emma’s talent show performance, with a rainbow swirl of music erupting from an amp and Emma rocking a glam outfit and electric guitar. Overall, the book reads pretty plainly, buoyed largely by the artwork. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Nice enough but not worth repeat reads. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: March 29, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-35207-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
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