by Cristina Lalli ; illustrated by Cristina Lalli ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 23, 2020
A lighthearted tale that validates following your own artistic vision.
Nola loves to draw, and she “scribbles” on a sketch pad everywhere she goes.
Her town—illustrated as a pencil-and-ink sketch of large rectangular buildings—gains colorful crayon squiggles and doodles as Nola walks past, immersed in her sketch pad. Unfortunately, no one else seems to appreciate Nola’s scribbles, and she feels the need to hide them. Nola also tries to “fix” her scribbles and create art that the people around her understand, contorting her scribbles “in ways they didn’t like to bend and twist.” The harder Nola tries, the more exhausted she gets. Ultimately, Nola literally draws a blank, a “big, boring blank,” and falls right inside it—where, much to her surprise, Nola finds that she’s not alone. Other creators are stuck on the same blank page. Can Nola summon enough scribbles to inspire everyone out of their respective creators’ blocks? Lalli’s picture-book debut highlights the delights of doodling and sketching as well as the lack of inspiration that sometimes follows. Colorful sketches on otherwise gray illustrations mark the difference between imagination and lack thereof. Nola has brown skin and puffy brown hair, and her fellow creators on the blank page are children of different races and abilities.
A lighthearted tale that validates following your own artistic vision. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: June 23, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-62414-942-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Page Street
Review Posted Online: Feb. 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
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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...
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
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by Marilyn Sadler ; illustrated by Stephanie Laberis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 13, 2024
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
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