A solid but ultimately unexciting entry in the who’s-the-beast genre.
A beast-girl and a girl-beast become friends in a hairy landscape.
“Alma’s day began like any other.” The big-eyed galumph covered in flowing gray fur picks “one butter breakfast tulip” and tends to her trees that are in need of braiding, the grass that needs combing, and the roof that needs a pat. Alma is sitting in her garden, a white “plumpooshkie butterfly” perched on her head, when a “little beast” comes to disturb her. Readers will quickly realize that the “beast” is a child like themselves, a very prim white girl in a yellow dress, but “Alma was frightened. She had never seen a hairless, button-nose beast before!” The girl, Mala, shouts that she is “TERRIBLY, TREMENDOUSLY, STUPENDOUSLY LOST,” and after some hesitation, Alma decides to help. The two become friends (Alma confused about the hairlessness of the girl’s environment), and “Mala’s day ended like any other.” Busy, lush paintings illustrate the strangeness of Alma’s thoroughly furred world, contrasting with the slightly long but well-paced and neatly structured story. While the overarching conceit—getting children to question their definition of “beast”—is clever, the meat of the story is somewhat lacking; tepid prose and weak characterization mean that most of the story is carried by the rich illustrations and the assumptions about beasts and not-beasts.
A solid but ultimately unexciting entry in the who’s-the-beast genre. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-7352-6396-3
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: May 25, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2019
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
Making friends isn’t always this easy and convenient.
How do you make a new friend when an old one moves away?
Buddy (from Sorry, Grown-Ups, You Can’t Go to School, 2019, etc.) is feeling lonely. His best friend just moved across town. To make matters worse, there is a field trip coming up, and Buddy needs a bus partner. His sister, Lady, has some helpful advice for making a new pal: “You just need to find something you have in common.” Buddy loves the game Robo Chargers and karate. Surely there is someone else who does, too! Unfortunately, there isn’t. However, when a new student arrives (one day later) and asks everyone to call her Sunny instead of Alison, Buddy gets excited. No one uses his given name, either; they just call him Buddy. He secretly whispers his “real, official name” to Sunny at lunch—an indication that a true friendship is being formed. The rest of the story plods merrily along, all pieces falling exactly into place (she even likes Robo Chargers!), accompanied by Bowers’ digital art, a mix of spot art and full-bleed illustrations. Friendship-building can be an emotionally charged event in a child’s life—young readers will certainly see themselves in Buddy’s plight—but, alas, there is not much storytelling magic to be found. Buddy and his family are White, Sunny and Mr. Teacher are Black, and Buddy’s other classmates are racially diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Making friends isn’t always this easy and convenient. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-30709-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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