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THE GHOST OF DONLEY FARM

Name: THE GHOST OF DONLEY FARM
Author: Jaime Gardner Johnson
ISBN: 978-1-62855-451-9

by Jaime Gardner Johnson ; illustrated by Laurie Allen Klein ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 10, 2014

A solid tale about two birds of prey that seamlessly blends in learning.

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This “ghost” story introduces children to the habits, habitats and adaptations of a red-tailed hawk and a barn owl.

Rebecca’s habitat on the Donley Farm is perfect for a hawk: wide fields and meadows, ponds, an old fence and a big maple tree. She knows every inch, yet she’s never seen the famous barn ghost, until the night she stays up late. At first frightened of the scary screeches, Rebecca eventually makes the acquaintance of Bernard. As the two get to know each other, they talk about the adaptations each has that allow survival: stiff versus soft feathers, differences in eye shapes and sizes (hawks also see color), bare legs versus feathered legs for the cool nights. In the end, Rebecca comes to the conclusion that if both she and Bernard were diurnal, one of them would go hungry; as it is, they can share a habitat. Klein’s illustrations nicely extend the text, though some could use labeling, as with the picture comparing the two birds’ feathers (addressed later in the backmatter), and the birds are slightly anthropomorphized. The backmatter provides more facts about raptors, red-tailed hawks and barn owls and challenges readers to identify nocturnal and diurnal animals.

A solid tale about two birds of prey that seamlessly blends in learning. (Informational picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2014

ISBN: 978-1-62855-451-9

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Arbordale Publishing

Review Posted Online: July 28, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2014

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

PETE THE CAT'S 12 GROOVY DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

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PETE THE CAT'S 12 GROOVY DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

by James Dean ; illustrated by James Dean ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 18, 2018

Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among

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Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.

If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”

Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018

ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS

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by Kimberly Dean ; illustrated by James Dean

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by James Dean & Kimberly Dean ; illustrated by James Dean

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TOOL SCHOOL
by Joan Holub ; illustrated by James Dean

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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)