No matter how much women move forward, things seem to stay the same.
A mommy can be anything from an actress to a zoologist.
Using an alphabet framework, a young girl with light-brown skin catalogs her mom’s careers. The jaunty, intensely colored illustrations do not contain the letters (a complete alphabet appears at the end), but each career is capitalized in bold within the short poems that appear in every double-page spread. The poetry includes the occasional vocabulary-challenging word forcing the rhyme: “Next she was a Ventriloquist, / her puppet never made a gaffe. / She did such amazing voices, / she made a million people laugh!” Sometimes it seems downright labored: “But Mommy loved adventure, / so she became a Kayak Pro! / Hurtling down rushing rapids / taught her to just go with the flow!” Diverse careers appear, with some, such as Miner and Quarterback, generally performed by men. The stylized mother and daughter are in each illustration, along with a cute black-and-white cat. (In fact, the book is dedicated to a deceased cat.) There are lots of colorful visual details, but the poetry will make some adults wince as they read it aloud. The sentimental last spread could induce some to use this for Mother’s Day: “26 careers my mom has had, / showing me all that I can be! / But the job she says she loves the most / is being a Mommy to me.”
No matter how much women move forward, things seem to stay the same. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-77050-293-2
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Whitecap
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2016
Laugh-out-loud fun for all.
Hilarious complications ensue when Nanette’s mom gives her the responsibility of buying the family baguette.
She sets out on her errand and encounters lots of distractions along the way as she meets and greets Georgette, Suzette, Bret with his clarinet, Mr. Barnett and his pet, Antoinette. But she remembers her mission and buys the baguette from Juliette the baker. And oh, it is a wonderful large, warm, aromatic hunk of bread, so Nanette takes a taste and another and more—until there is nothing left. Maybe she needs to take a jet to Tibet. But she faces her mother and finds understanding, tenderness, and a surprise twist. Willems is at his outlandish best with line after line of “ettes” and their absurd rhymes, all the while demonstrating a deep knowledge of children’s thought processes. Nanette and the entire cast of characters are bright green frogs with very large round eyes, heavily outlined in black and clad in eccentric clothing and hats. A highly detailed village constructed of cardboard forms the background for Nanette’s adventures. Her every emotion explodes all over the pages in wildly expressive, colorful vignettes and an eye-popping use of emphatic display type. The endpapers follow the fate of the baguette from fresh and whole to chewed and gone. Demands for encores will surely follow.
Laugh-out-loud fun for all. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 25, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4847-2286-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2016
For places where the first-grade shelves are particularly thin.
The traditional song “The Twelve Days of Christmas” gets a school makeover as readers follow a cheery narrator through the first 12 days of first grade.
“On the first day of first grade / I had fun right away // laughing and learning all day!” In these first two spreads, Jennings shows the child, who has brown skin and a cloud of dark-brown hair, entering the schoolyard with a diverse array of classmates and settling in. In the backgrounds, caregivers, including a woman in hijab, stand at the fence and kids hang things on hooks in the back of the room. Each new day sees the child and their friends enjoying new things, previous days’ activities repeated in the verses each time so that those listening will soon be chiming in. The child helps in the classroom, checks out books from the library, plants seeds, practices telling time and counting money, leads the line, performs in a play, shows off a picture of their pet bunny, and does activities in gym, music, and art classes. The Photoshop-and-watercolor illustrations portray adorable and engaged kids having fun while learning with friends. But while the song and topic are the same, this doesn’t come close to touching either the hysterical visuals or great rhythm of Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003).
For places where the first-grade shelves are particularly thin. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: June 19, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-266851-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2018
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