Still, Martha’s excitement is infectious, and younger siblings should feel it as well as newly minted students. (Picture...
With an enthusiasm that virtually oozes off the pages and infects readers, Martha tells readers all about herself and her preparations for her first day of school.
While many going-to-school books are about jitters or routines or school supplies, this one is in a class by itself, focusing on Martha’s close relationship with the younger brothers she’ll be leaving at home and on all her favorite things. Martha’s exuberance for her possessions can be likened to Lilly with her purple plastic purse or Olivia and all her outfits. The morning of Martha’s first day of school is a busy one as she tries to balance her brothers’ need for guidance (and reassurance) with packing her backpack, a hysterical pursuit that has Martha stuffing in everything but the kitchen sink before her mother helps her pare it down. The book ends on just the right note: A school-loving Martha returns home to join her beloved brothers in their Happy Bunny Club, which she helped them set up that morning. Vulliamy keeps the energy high in her cartoon illustrations, which brim with color and combine labeled vignettes (almost like rebuses) with sometimes-overbusy spot illustrations. The artwork is nicely accented with collaged items, one slight misstep being the sign that Martha pens, with too-perfect spelling and penmanship, for the new club.
Still, Martha’s excitement is infectious, and younger siblings should feel it as well as newly minted students. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-8075-4976-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: Aug. 27, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.
A ghost longs to be scary, but none of the creepy personas she tries on fit.
Misty, a feline ghost with big green eyes and long whiskers, wants to be the frightening presence that her haunted house calls for, but sadly, she’s “too cute to be spooky.” She dons toilet paper to resemble a mummy, attempts to fly on a broom like a witch, and howls at the moon like a werewolf. Nothing works. She heads to a Halloween party dressed reluctantly as herself. When she arrives, her friends’ joyful screams reassure her that she’s great just as she is. Sadler’s message, though a familiar one, is delivered effectively in a charming, ghostly package. Misty truly is too precious to be frightening. Laberis depicts an endearingly spooky, all-animal cast—a frog witch, for instance, and a crocodilian mummy. Misty’s sidekick, a cheery little bat who lends support throughout, might be even more adorable than she is. Though Misty’s haunted house is filled with cobwebs and surrounded by jagged, leafless trees, the charming characters keep things from ever getting too frightening. The images will encourage lingering looks. Clearly, there’s plenty that makes Misty special just as she is—a takeaway that adults sharing the book with their little ones should be sure to drive home.
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9780593702901
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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