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OLIVE

Name: OLIVE
Author: Edwina Wyatt
ISBN: 978-1-76050-408-3

by Edwina Wyatt ; illustrated by Lucia Masciullo ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 2022

A sensitive story about the death of a much-loved pet.

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A girl grieves for her dead cat but finds solace in moving on.

Lilah is pictured on the book’s cover happily reading to Olive, her loving and attentive feline. The title page, with images of flyers about a lost cat, hint at the sadness to come, and when Lilah returns from school one day, her mother tells her that Olive is dead. The difficult scene plays out in the illustrations, with no mention of the words death or dead, but Lilah’s tears make it clear what has happened. A tree planted in memory of Olive provides no peace, only anger. Through the seasons, the tree grows, but Lilah refuses to interact with it. Enter a striped cat who returns day after day to sit in Olive’s favorite spots despite Lilah’s anger. And then the new cat climbs Olive’s tree. Predictably, Lilah rescues the cat, begins to appreciate and enjoy her memories of Olive, and embraces the new pet. In this gentle tale that treads familiar ground, a child faces grief with help from an affectionate new companion—though an author’s note with tips on dealing with this very difficult subject might have been helpful. The softly colored illustrations are appealing and do not overplay the presentation. Olive is light-skinned with black hair. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A sensitive story about the death of a much-loved pet. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: June 1, 2022

ISBN: 978-1-76050-408-3

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Little Hare/Trafalgar

Review Posted Online: March 29, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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TISH
by Edwina Wyatt ; illustrated by Odette Barberousse

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SOMETIMES CAKE
by Edwina Wyatt ; illustrated by Tamsin Ainslie

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IT TOOK TWO WISHES
by Edwina Wyatt ; illustrated by Irena Freitas

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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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IT'S NOT EASY BEING A GHOST

From the It's Not Easy Being series

by Marilyn Sadler ; illustrated by Stephanie Laberis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 13, 2024

Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.

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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)