An encouraging story of new beginnings.
A recently arrived child from Colombia misses her father and her friends back home, so she looks forward to her first day of school and making new friends.
As Isabella looks out the window, the world outside feels strange, and “the United States is cold and gray.” Her mother assures her she will make new friends in school. Eagerly anticipating the first day of school, Isabella readies her new jeans and “fluffy orange sweater” as well as her school supplies. But when her “make-new-friends day” finally arrives, it is snowing and school is cancelled. With her dreams of new friends dashed, Isabella stares out the window where the snow looks like “a thousand white butterflies.” When she sees a girl fall in the snow, Isabella runs out to help only to discover the girl grinning—she has just made a snow angel. After spending a day playing outside, making more angels and building a snowman, Isabella is delighted. She has made a friend. Maldonado’s charming illustrations are simple and colorful, depicting a brown-skinned girl with two cute little braids sticking out on either side of her head. Katie, Isabella’s new friend, wears glasses and has pale skin and straight red hair. The story is a little bland and predictable, which lends it a sweet and reassuring feel. Many a newly arrived child will recognize Isabella’s homesickness and need for reassurance that life will work out in this new country. Isabella narrates in English, the dialogue within her family entirely in Spanish; the fact that she and Katie speak only in their own languages interferes not a whit in their play
An encouraging story of new beginnings. (authors' notes, more info, glossary) (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-58089-577-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2021
A retro-futuristic romp, literally and figuratively screwy.
Robo-parents Diode and Lugnut present daughter Cathode with a new little brother—who requires, unfortunately, some assembly.
Arriving in pieces from some mechanistic version of Ikea, little Flange turns out to be a cute but complicated tyke who immediately falls apart…and then rockets uncontrollably about the room after an overconfident uncle tinkers with his basic design. As a squad of helpline techies and bevies of neighbors bearing sludge cake and like treats roll in, the cluttered and increasingly crowded scene deteriorates into madcap chaos—until at last Cath, with help from Roomba-like robodog Sprocket, stages an intervention by whisking the hapless new arrival off to a backyard workshop for a proper assembly and software update. “You’re such a good big sister!” warbles her frazzled mom. Wiesner’s robots display his characteristic clean lines and even hues but endearingly look like vaguely anthropomorphic piles of random jet-engine parts and old vacuum cleaners loosely connected by joints of armored cable. They roll hither and thither through neatly squared-off panels and pages in infectiously comical dismay. Even the end’s domestic tranquility lasts only until Cathode spots the little box buried in the bigger one’s packing material: “TWINS!” (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-22-inch double-page spreads viewed at 52% of actual size.)
A retro-futuristic romp, literally and figuratively screwy. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-544-98731-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2020
Another quirky take on the series theme that it’s cool to be kind.
The cool beans again step up to do a timorous fellow legume a fava…this time at the pool.
Will a rash decision to tackle the multistory super-slide lead to another embarrassing watery fail for our shy protagonist? Nope, for up the stairs right behind comes a trio of cool beans, each a different type and color, all clad in nothing but dark shades. They make an offer: “It’s not as scary if you go with friends!” As the knobby nerd explains once the thrilling ride down is done, “They all realized that I just needed some encouragement and support.” Just to make sure that both cool and uncool readers get the message, the narrator lets us know that “there are plenty of kind folks who have my back. They’re always there when I need them.” The beany bonhomie doesn’t end at the bottom of the slide, with all gliding down to the shallow end of the pool (“3 INCHES. NO DIVING”) for a splashy finale. This latest early reader starring characters from John and Oswald’s immensely popular Food Group series will be a hit with fans. Fun accessories, such as a bean who rocks pink cat-eye frames, add some pizzazz to the chromatically and somatotypically varied cast.
Another quirky take on the series theme that it’s cool to be kind. (Easy reader. 5-7)Pub Date: March 26, 2024
ISBN: 9780063329560
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
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