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F IS FOR FEELINGS

Useful, if not particularly artful.

An alphabet of emotions, created by two clinical psychologists for parent-child discussions.

Intended to provide a starting vocabulary for expressing feelings, the text for each of Mitchell’s cartoon-style, utilitarian scenes consists of a cue (“A is for afraid”) and a tagline (“I am scared”). In the pictures, a diverse cast of children in everyday settings mostly responds with facial expressions rather than actions to common situations, such as being left with a babysitter or having to wait for a turn on the swings, or they display general moods like sadness and grouchiness. Unsurprisingly, considering the authors’ credentials, most of the modeled emotions are related to anger or anxiety. Those of a more positive cast tend to be less easily definable: “D is for determined”; “Q is for quiet.” Furthermore, the abecedarian conceit is overstretched with “K is for kind” and “Y is for yelling” (as in, “I’m full of energy, and I feel like being loud!”), which aren’t feelings so much as behaviors. The “Letter to Caring Adults” at the beginning as well as closing spreads of advice and bulleted activity lists suggest the main audience for this are adults rather than children themselves.

Useful, if not particularly artful. (Informational picture book. 5-8, adult)

Pub Date: Aug. 20, 2014

ISBN: 978-1-57542-475-0

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Free Spirit Publishing

Review Posted Online: June 28, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2014

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IMANI'S MOON

While the blend of folklore, fantasy and realism is certainly far-fetched, Imani, with her winning personality, is a child...

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)

Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2014

ISBN: 978-1-934133-57-6

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Mackinac Island Press

Review Posted Online: July 28, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2014

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TINY T. REX AND THE IMPOSSIBLE HUG

Wins for compassion and for the refusal to let physical limitations hold one back.

With such short arms, how can Tiny T. Rex give a sad friend a hug?

Fleck goes for cute in the simple, minimally detailed illustrations, drawing the diminutive theropod with a chubby turquoise body and little nubs for limbs under a massive, squared-off head. Impelled by the sight of stegosaurian buddy Pointy looking glum, little Tiny sets out to attempt the seemingly impossible, a comforting hug. Having made the rounds seeking advice—the dino’s pea-green dad recommends math; purple, New Age aunt offers cucumber juice (“That is disgusting”); red mom tells him that it’s OK not to be able to hug (“You are tiny, but your heart is big!”), and blue and yellow older sibs suggest practice—Tiny takes up the last as the most immediately useful notion. Unfortunately, the “tree” the little reptile tries to hug turns out to be a pterodactyl’s leg. “Now I am falling,” Tiny notes in the consistently self-referential narrative. “I should not have let go.” Fortunately, Tiny lands on Pointy’s head, and the proclamation that though Rexes’ hugs may be tiny, “I will do my very best because you are my very best friend” proves just the mood-lightening ticket. “Thank you, Tiny. That was the biggest hug ever.” Young audiences always find the “clueless grown-ups” trope a knee-slapper, the overall tone never turns preachy, and Tiny’s instinctive kindness definitely puts him at (gentle) odds with the dinky dino star of Bob Shea’s Dinosaur Vs. series.

Wins for compassion and for the refusal to let physical limitations hold one back. (Picture book. 5-7)

Pub Date: March 5, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-4521-7033-6

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Chronicle Books

Review Posted Online: Nov. 11, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2018

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