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BOO STEW

Name: BOO STEW
Author: Donna Washington
ISBN: 978-1-68263-221-5

by Donna Washington ; illustrated by Jeffrey Ebbeler ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2021

This fairy-tale–style story is a standout pleaser for the right crowd, with a year-round shelf life.

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Will Curly Locks find anyone who appreciates her cooking?

Unlike most residents of Toadsuck, Curly Locks doesn’t mind the Scares, shadowlike creatures who inhabit the swamp. They keep to themselves, other than their “hootin’ and hollerin’,” which can annoy folks at night. Curly Locks only cares about cooking. But for some reason, people aren’t interested in her batwing brownies, cat-hair cupcakes, or toad-eye toffees. One day, the mayor is enjoying his breakfast when a little Scare plants itself in the middle of his plate. The mayor flees, and a succession of townspeople comes to help only to be chased off by even bigger Scares. When Curly Locks hears of the kerfuffle, she wonders if anyone has tried cooking for the Scares. She saunters up to the mayor’s house with her possum grease and toadstools and heads to the kitchen. With a promise of her famous Boo Stew and a calm demeanor, she gets the Scares to clean up their mess before sitting down for a meal, striking a historic deal with them that benefits the whole town and gives her someone to cook for. Curly Locks is a plucky Black girl among a multiracial cast of characters whose country accents enhance the story’s setting. The inky, blotchy Scares are pretty scary, and Curly Locks’ food is stomach-turning, hilarious for lovers of gross humor.

This fairy-tale–style story is a standout pleaser for the right crowd, with a year-round shelf life. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2021

ISBN: 978-1-68263-221-5

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Peachtree

Review Posted Online: July 13, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S PARANORMAL & SUPERNATURAL

- BOOK REVIEW
A BIG, SPOOKY HOUSE
by Donna Washington & illustrated by Jacqueline Rogers

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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...

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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

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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...

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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)