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MY BROWN BEAR BARNEY AT THE PARTY

Name: MY BROWN BEAR BARNEY AT THE PARTY
Author: Dorothy Butler
ISBN: 0-688-17548-1

by Dorothy Butler & illustrated by Elizabeth Fuller ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 28, 2001

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Butler’s latest installment featuring the stalwart, fuzzy brown companion has Barney (My Brown Bear Barney in Trouble, 1993, etc.) attending a rambunctious birthday party with his owner. On the big day, the narrator and her best friend Fred arrive bearing gifts for Harold, the birthday boy. The problem is that Harold’s baby sister, Poppy, promptly confiscates Barney. The series of misadventures that ensues will seem perfectly reasonable to tots and alarmingly familiar to parents and caregivers. In the chaos of the three celebrants pitching out of the hammock “ship” and a subsequent, rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday,” Barney gets alternately painted and dunked in the aquarium by Poppy. This necessitates not one but two baths for the soiled toy. Thus when the party is over—and Harold’s mother recumbent upon her bed—Barney looks all fluffy and new while the partygoers look quite disheveled but beamingly happy. Butler’s simple prose is just right for young children. Preschoolers in particular will relish the meticulous descriptions of the day’s activities, which include an in-depth accounting of the preparations leading up to the big event. Fuller’s detailed watercolors, reminiscent of photographs, are presented scrapbook style, with each individual illustration framed with an edging of color and occupying three quarters of every page. Brimming with adventure and fun, this is one little ones will enjoy hearing over and again. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2001

ISBN: 0-688-17548-1

Page Count: 24

Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2000

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
MY BROWN BEAR BARNEY IN TROUBLE
by Dorothy Butler & illustrated by Elizabeth Fuller

- BOOK REVIEW
ANOTHER HAPPY TALE
by Dorothy Butler & illustrated by John Hurford

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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)