Appealing but sexist.
During each season, city-dwelling siblings Benjamin and Anna visit their cousin Robin and his favorite tree—a 300-year-old oak in a European forest.
“Uncle John was a forester and their house was right on the edge of the forest.” This is typical of the blunt sentences that tell a gentle tale of children exploring the natural world whenever they are together. The illustrations—of gouache, colored pencil, and graphite—have the nostalgic appeal of mid-20th-century Little Golden Books, with people, plants, and animals rendered in a way that imbues them all with sweetness. A semblance of plot develops when Benjamin, despite misgivings, steals away at night for a tree visitation and must stay in its branches to avoid wild boars. The final story scene is a frameworthy double-page spread of children celebrating the oak in the full beauty of summer. The book is an expanded version of a title originally published in Germany in 1991. The sexism present in the text has not worn well. Aunt Beth is mentioned as Uncle John’s spouse but never appears—not even when the others spend a magical spring evening observing badgers and other forest creatures. Anna waters a plant and picks flowers, but she does not join Benjamin and Uncle John to watch a group of all-male foresters at work, nor to ski through the forest with Robin. The primary characters present white. Following the story is the new material: 12 pages of further information about woodlands, in lovingly illustrated detail.
Appealing but sexist. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-78250-602-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Floris
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
Nice enough but not worth repeat reads.
Emma deals with jitters before playing the guitar in the school talent show.
Pop musician Kevin Jonas and his wife, Danielle, put performance at the center of their picture-book debut. When Emma is intimidated by her very talented friends, the encouragement of her younger sister, Bella, and the support of her family help her to shine her own light. The story is straightforward and the moral familiar: Draw strength from your family and within to overcome your fears. Employing the performance-anxiety trope that’s been written many times over, the book plods along predictably—there’s nothing really new or surprising here. Dawson’s full-color digital illustrations center a White-presenting family along with Emma’s three friends of color: Jamila has tanned skin and wears a hijab; Wendy has dark brown skin and Afro puffs; and Luis has medium brown skin. Emma’s expressive eyes and face are the real draw of the artwork—from worry to embarrassment to joy, it’s clear what she’s feeling. A standout double-page spread depicts Emma’s talent show performance, with a rainbow swirl of music erupting from an amp and Emma rocking a glam outfit and electric guitar. Overall, the book reads pretty plainly, buoyed largely by the artwork. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Nice enough but not worth repeat reads. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: March 29, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-35207-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
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