bookshelf

PIANO WANTS TO PLAY

Name: PIANO WANTS TO PLAY
Author: Colleen Kong-Savage
ISBN: 9781645677932

by Colleen Kong-Savage ; illustrated by Colleen Kong-Savage ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 5, 2024

A tender invitation to rediscover old friendships and create new melodies.

bookshelf

Piano is full of songs; will anyone sit down and help Piano sing?

The first time Amy Lu meets Piano, she begins with a few experimental pokes on its keys. Piano responds, “Plink plink plink.” Their early relationship is full of stumbles as Amy and Piano figure out how to play together. As the weeks pass, however, they settle into a friendship full of “rippling melodies” and “boogie-woogies.” Their friendship starts to fade as Amy grows up. Piano still wants to play, of course, but homework, soccer, and new friends keep Amy from sitting down at the bench. Amy’s brother Rupert becomes Piano’s new playmate. Unfortunately, they are a poor match. Where Amy’s fingers skipped, Rupert’s smack the keys “like little dead fish.” After one too many tortured sessions, Rupert abandons Piano, too, and Piano falls silent. Lonely and unwanted, Piano longs for another chance to play. The evocative text and stirring story will win over readers, while the mixed-media collages dazzle throughout; they’re particularly breathtaking on the two-page spread dedicated to Piano and Amy’s joyful reunion. Amy and Rupert are cued Chinese; other characters are diverse, and complexions include realistic shades of beige and brown as well as pink and purple.

A tender invitation to rediscover old friendships and create new melodies. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: March 5, 2024

ISBN: 9781645677932

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Page Street

Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS

- BOOK REVIEW
THE TURTLE SHIP
by Helena Ku Rhee ; illustrated by Colleen Kong-Savage

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

IMANI'S MOON

by JaNay Brown-Wood ; illustrated by Hazel Mitchell ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 14, 2014

While the blend of folklore, fantasy and realism is certainly far-fetched, Imani, with her winning personality, is a child...

bookshelf

Imani endures the insults heaped upon her by the other village children, but she never gives up her dreams.

The Masai girl is tiny compared to the other children, but she is full of imagination and perseverance. Luckily, she has a mother who believes in her and tells her stories that will fuel that imagination. Mama tells her about the moon goddess, Olapa, who wins over the sun god. She tells Imani about Anansi, the trickster spider who vanquishes a larger snake. (Troublingly, the fact that Anansi is a West African figure, not of the Masai, goes unaddressed in both text and author’s note.) Inspired, the tiny girl tries to find new ways to achieve her dream: to touch the moon. One day, after crashing to the ground yet again when her leafy wings fail, she is ready to forget her hopes. That night, she witnesses the adumu, the special warriors’ jumping dance. Imani wakes the next morning, determined to jump to the moon. After jumping all day, she reaches the moon, meets Olapa and receives a special present from the goddess, a small moon rock. Now she becomes the storyteller when she relates her adventure to Mama. The watercolor-and-graphite illustrations have been enhanced digitally, and the night scenes of storytelling and fantasy with their glowing stars and moons have a more powerful impact than the daytime scenes, with their blander colors.

While the blend of folklore, fantasy and realism is certainly far-fetched, Imani, with her winning personality, is a child to be admired. (Picture book. 5-8)