Skip this in favor of some chicken soup.
The guitarist and organist for the Zac Brown Band outlines what to do and not do when you are feeling sick.
The advice runs the gamut from the humorous to truisms and upbeat platitudes, with a fair amount of silliness that has nothing to do with illness. Yes, chicken soup is meant for your mouth, not to be dumped on your head, and it’s possible purple elephants might just eat all your food if you invite them for lunch. But even wading through the foolishness, there’s not much to this. Simply saying something, for instance, doesn’t make it so: “Don’t be afraid of needles or your nurse. / She’s not a wicked witch with a broom and curse.” The author recommends two things to start feeling better and get rid of the germs: a silly face that involves sticking your fingers in your mouth (a sure way to share the illness) and a rhyming Sickness Song. But no matter what doctors or nurses do, no matter what silly faces one makes or rhyme one recites, there are some illnesses that won’t get better, and Bowles’ closing overlooks this fact: “Whatever you do, you must stay strong. / You might be sick now but you won’t be for long. / You’ll be running and swimming and swinging / And playing and dancing and you’ll feel just fine. / Don’t you worry one little bit, it’s just a matter of time.” The seemingly digital illustrations are brightly colored and show a wide array of diversity in gender and race and ability.
Skip this in favor of some chicken soup. (author’s note) (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-55286-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2016
A hilarious autumnal comedy of errors.
A confused squirrel overreacts to the falling autumn leaves.
Relaxing on a tree branch, Squirrel admires the red, gold, and orange leaves. Suddenly Squirrel screams, “One of my leaves is…MISSING!” Searching for the leaf, Squirrel tells Bird, “Someone stole my leaf!” Spying Mouse sailing in a leaf boat, Squirrel asks if Mouse stole the leaf. Mouse calmly replies in the negative. Bird reminds Squirrel it’s “perfectly normal to lose a leaf or two at this time of year.” Next morning Squirrel panics again, shrieking, “MORE LEAVES HAVE BEEN STOLEN!” Noticing Woodpecker arranging colorful leaves, Squirrel queries, “Are those my leaves?” Woodpecker tells Squirrel, “No.” Again, Bird assures Squirrel that no one’s taking the leaves and that the same thing happened last year, then encourages Squirrel to relax. Too wired to relax despite some yoga and a bath, the next day Squirrel cries “DISASTER” at the sight of bare branches. Frantic now, Squirrel becomes suspicious upon discovering Bird decorating with multicolored leaves. Is Bird the culprit? In response, Bird shows Squirrel the real Leaf Thief: the wind. Squirrel’s wildly dramatic, misguided, and hyperpossessive reaction to a routine seasonal event becomes a rib-tickling farce through clever use of varying type sizes and weights emphasizing his absurd verbal pronouncements as well as exaggerated, comic facial expressions and body language. Bold colors, arresting perspectives, and intense close-ups enhance Squirrel’s histrionics. Endnotes explain the science behind the phenomenon.
A hilarious autumnal comedy of errors. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7282-3520-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2021
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
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