by Holly Hobbie & illustrated by Holly Hobbie ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2002
Every new Toot & Puddle adventure is an eagerly awaited event, and while this one arrives on many levels, it takes a wrong turn somewhere and leaves someone at the station. Once again, Hobbie’s (I’ll Be Home For Christmas, not reviewed, etc.) signature style drives the story with beautiful and witty watercolors complementing, as unwritten text, the intrepid storytelling. Actually, Toot off on another perambulation drives the plot, and the practical Puddle is left to mow the lawn in a show of friendship. But he begins to worry and journeys out into the woods of Woodcock Pocket to find the tardy Toot. Following Toot’s tracks logically leads to railroad tracks, which lead to . . . finding his friend in France. But readers see nothing of that country that might have been memorably rendered in Hobbie’s charmingly detailed style. Furthermore, the happy dénouement takes a turn at the airport into an ending that feels like it was meant for a different book. It’s a large leap of readers’ faith to go from a French airport to the top of the Himalayas with the turn of a page, however young the reader is. Hobbie has always honored children’s intelligence and sense of wonder and tries in this outing, although she falls short with this whimsical twist, which inexplicably contributes to the title. Never mind. In Holly Hobbie’s world, “whim” rhymes with “friend” and readers will forgive her this whim and remain her friend, still eagerly awaiting the next Toot & Puddle adventure. (Picture book. 4-7)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-316-36513-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2002
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by Holly Hobbie & illustrated by Holly Hobbie
by Holly Hobbie & illustrated by Holly Hobbie
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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...
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
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by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings
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by Andrew Clements & illustrated by R.W. Alley ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 23, 2005
Give this child’s-eye view of a day at the beach with an attentive father high marks for coziness: “When your ball blows across the sand and into the ocean and starts to drift away, your daddy could say, Didn’t I tell you not to play too close to the waves? But he doesn’t. He wades out into the cold water. And he brings your ball back to the beach and plays roll and catch with you.” Alley depicts a moppet and her relaxed-looking dad (to all appearances a single parent) in informally drawn beach and domestic settings: playing together, snuggling up on the sofa and finally hugging each other goodnight. The third-person voice is a bit distancing, but it makes the togetherness less treacly, and Dad’s mix of love and competence is less insulting, to parents and children both, than Douglas Wood’s What Dads Can’t Do (2000), illus by Doug Cushman. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: May 23, 2005
ISBN: 0-618-00361-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2005
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by Andrew Clements ; illustrated by Brian Selznick
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