A whimsically illustrated, poetic ode to aloneness and self-acceptance.
This whale tale, based on a true story, looks at the benefits and drawbacks of being alone.
After a brief introduction in a typewriter-style font, a whale named 52 shares his unique perspective on the ocean. He admires other whales who live together in pods: “They’re just like me, except one thing, they can’t quite seem to hear me sing.” As 52 points out, whales use their voices to identify others of their kind, and 52’s different voice makes him mostly invisible. However, when he’s alone, he can see beauty that other creatures miss. The whale is mostly at peace with his differences and happy with who he is, even if it means that he’s sometimes lonely. Author DePalma and illustrator Brown create a hero with whom young readers will identify, and they’ll be sympathetic to his plight. DePalma’s rhymes scan well, and the accessible vocabulary includes challenging words with wonderful sounds to read aloud (askew, trickles, barnacles). The descriptive poetry effectively dovetails with Brown’s cartoonlike, occasionally abstract illustrations, which sometimes feel magical. Some readers may be saddened by the lack of a solution to 52’s solitude, but others may wish to learn more about the real-life whale that inspired the story. (A companion audiobook, read by comedian Patton Oswalt, is available at the publisher’s website.)
A whimsically illustrated, poetic ode to aloneness and self-acceptance.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-1-7334055-0-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: Umbrelly Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
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
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
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