bookshelf

MADE FOR MORE

Name: MADE FOR MORE
Author: Chloe Ito Ward
ISBN: 9780063334144

by Chloe Ito Ward ; illustrated by Gael Abary ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 25, 2025

A radiant and joyful celebration of skin, family, and immigration.

bookshelf

A child embraces her skin and all that it represents.

A young Japanese American girl reflects on the differences between her grandmother’s soft, pale skin and her own, which is as “gold as the grass that billows beyond the banyan tree.” Ignoring the warnings of adults who recommend that she stay in the shade for fear of tanning, she finds beauty in her scars, her freckles, and the color of her skin. After all, she was “made for more.” Her skin embodies her rich cultural heritage and holds the story of her ancestors as they journeyed from Japan to Hawaii, “from sand to sand, old roots planted in new soil.” Her skin represents the freedom to break from tradition, to explore and “[bathe] in blue sky until the sun settles beneath the sea.” It connects her to her family and to her home. In compelling, lyrical prose, Ward draws from her own family history and journey to self-acceptance to combat traditional East Asian beauty standards that idealize light skin. Abary’s digital illustrations in soft coastal hues pair beautifully with the story, subtly blending in Japanese visual elements with Hawaiian landscapes through patterns and textures.

A radiant and joyful celebration of skin, family, and immigration. (author’s note) (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Feb. 25, 2025

ISBN: 9780063334144

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Allida/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

bookshelf

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...

bookshelf

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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
ON THE FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

- BOOK REVIEW
FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

bookshelf

TINY T. REX AND THE IMPOSSIBLE HUG

by Jonathan Stutzman ; illustrated by Jay Fleck ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 5, 2019

Wins for compassion and for the refusal to let physical limitations hold one back.

bookshelf

With such short arms, how can Tiny T. Rex give a sad friend a hug?

Fleck goes for cute in the simple, minimally detailed illustrations, drawing the diminutive theropod with a chubby turquoise body and little nubs for limbs under a massive, squared-off head. Impelled by the sight of stegosaurian buddy Pointy looking glum, little Tiny sets out to attempt the seemingly impossible, a comforting hug. Having made the rounds seeking advice—the dino’s pea-green dad recommends math; purple, New Age aunt offers cucumber juice (“That is disgusting”); red mom tells him that it’s OK not to be able to hug (“You are tiny, but your heart is big!”), and blue and yellow older sibs suggest practice—Tiny takes up the last as the most immediately useful notion. Unfortunately, the “tree” the little reptile tries to hug turns out to be a pterodactyl’s leg. “Now I am falling,” Tiny notes in the consistently self-referential narrative. “I should not have let go.” Fortunately, Tiny lands on Pointy’s head, and the proclamation that though Rexes’ hugs may be tiny, “I will do my very best because you are my very best friend” proves just the mood-lightening ticket. “Thank you, Tiny. That was the biggest hug ever.” Young audiences always find the “clueless grown-ups” trope a knee-slapper, the overall tone never turns preachy, and Tiny’s instinctive kindness definitely puts him at (gentle) odds with the dinky dino star of Bob Shea’s Dinosaur Vs. series.

Wins for compassion and for the refusal to let physical limitations hold one back. (Picture book. 5-7)