Beaumont and Pham have proven once again that childhood fun romps across all societal biases with aplomb.
The shoe-obsessed foursome of Shoe-la-la! (2011) is back, but this time millinery extravagance is the rage.
The irrepressible little girls storm a street-fair boutique—Chez Chapeaux. Beaumont’s simple, snappy rhymes tap-dance the girls from turbans to top hats with nary a stumble. Unlike the frazzled clerk in the girls’ first adventure, the boutique’s brown-skinned salesclerk joins in the revelry with joyful alacrity. Feathers, fruit, flowers—nothing is too glitzy for the four fashionistas-in-training. “Ribbons, buttons / beads, and bows. / Gems and jewels…we all like those.” After the friends finally decide on some rather plain head gear, they race home to their attic workshop. In the blink of an eye, Scotch tape, paint, and sparkly craft supplies provide the needed pizzazz for their haute couture masterpieces. Frou-Frou, a beribboned little terrier, delivers fancy invitations to the clueless moms, who have been shouting up to their daughters, “Emily, Ashley, Kaitlyn, Claire! / What is going on up there?” Stepping into the backyard, the surprised parents find they are the guests of honor at a très chic mother-daughter tea party. Pham’s digitally colored, Japanese brush pen illustrations expertly capture the quicksilver flashes of grins, eye-rolls, and haughty runway ennui. Dress-up magic sparkles all over this too-cute multiethnic quartet.
Beaumont and Pham have proven once again that childhood fun romps across all societal biases with aplomb. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-545-47423-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2016
Handy advice for perpetually inquisitive children.
Interior decorator and TV personality Gaines invites readers to open their eyes and exercise their imaginations.
There’s a world to be explored out there—and only children can really take part. What does “looking for wonder” entail? Slowing down and looking up, around, and everywhere. At the outset, a group of eager, racially diverse young friends—including one who uses a wheelchair—are fully prepared for a grand adventure. They offer tips about how and where to look: Why, there’s a “grand parade” of marching ants! And, these kids add, perspective is key. A rainy day might signal gloom to some, but to those filled with wonder, showers bring “magic puddles for play”; a forest is “an enchanted world,” the ocean conceals “a spectacular city,” and the night sky boasts “extraordinary sights.” The takeaway: “Wonder is never in short supply.” It’s a robust, empowering message, as is the exhortation to “keep your mind open, and let curiosity guide the way.” Youngsters are also advised to share their discoveries. The upbeat narrative is delivered in clunky verse, but the colorful cartoonish illustrations brimming with activity and good cheer (including some adorable anthropomorphized animals in the backgrounds) make up for the textual lapses and should motivate readers to embark on their own “wonder explorations.”
Handy advice for perpetually inquisitive children. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9781400247417
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tommy Nelson
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
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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