Practical advice for parents and an entertainingly helpful get-ready book for kids starting school.
In Bronstein’s illustrated debut children’s book, a boy becomes upset when he first starts school because he doesn’t know what’s going to happen next.
Making the transition to attending school isn’t always easy for kids. Although young Stewie’s parents try to reassure him by telling him he’ll enjoy it, he’s still nervous. Right away, he has to deal with some uncomfortable feelings: “[T]he teacher said, ‘All Daddies and Mommies have to leave now.’ That made me sad and feeling sad makes me mad.” Later, just as Stewie settles into an activity, such as playing with trains, it’s time to do something else. Sudden transitions, rules, being told what to do—his parents didn’t prepare him for this. “Can you get me outta here?” Stewie asks the teacher at nap time. Eventually, he acts up so much that his mother has to come get him. At home, his older brother and younger sister sweetly try to cheer him up, but nothing really helps until Stewie has a late-night brainstorm to make a picture-schedule of his day, which will allow him to feel ready for each activity. His second day of school goes much better: “And when it was music time, I sang the loudest. (I am a Boomstein, after all.)” Throughout, Bronstein never shames Stewie for his loud, exuberant nature or his need to know what happens next. Instead, his parents and siblings respect his feelings and work together to solve his problem—a great lesson for all families. The book appends a discussion with two child-development experts, explaining the theoretical underpinnings of the book; this section contains thorough, helpful advice, such as urging parents to practice school routines with their child ahead of time. Young’s delightfully quirky, colorful illustrations charmingly help tell the story as they convey Stewie’s personality. Further resources, including a blank, printable “What Happens Next” picture-schedule, are available on the author’s website.
Practical advice for parents and an entertainingly helpful get-ready book for kids starting school.Pub Date: June 30, 2014
ISBN: 978-0990465201
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Nothing But The Truth Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Continuing to find inspiration in the work of Virginia Lee Burton, Munro Leaf and other illustrators of the past, Long (The Little Engine That Could, 2005) offers an aw-shucks friendship tale that features a small but hardworking tractor (“putt puff puttedy chuff”) with a Little Toot–style face and a big-eared young descendant of Ferdinand the bull who gets stuck in deep, gooey mud. After the big new yellow tractor, crowds of overalls-clad locals and a red fire engine all fail to pull her out, the little tractor (who had been left behind the barn to rust after the arrival of the new tractor) comes putt-puff-puttedy-chuff-ing down the hill to entice his terrified bovine buddy successfully back to dry ground. Short on internal logic but long on creamy scenes of calf and tractor either gamboling energetically with a gaggle of McCloskey-like geese through neutral-toned fields or resting peacefully in the shade of a gnarled tree (apple, not cork), the episode will certainly draw nostalgic adults. Considering the author’s track record and influences, it may find a welcome from younger audiences too. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-399-25248-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2009
SEEN & HEARD
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
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
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