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A GIFT OF FEATHERS

Name: A GIFT OF FEATHERS
Author: Ken Schept
ISBN: 978-1-250-83804-9

by Ken Schept ; illustrated by Romina Galotta ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 17, 2023

A direct, quiet tale of loss likely to resonate with kids grappling with grief but few others.

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Two young girls grieve their grandmother.

Talula and her little sister, Rhea, love visiting Grandma Dot, who lives in a city two hours away from them. The girls talk to their grandmother about her ever growing collection of feathers and then play a game that involves putting all 99 of them—the same number of years as Grandma Dot has lived—in some kind of order. The elderly woman dies before her 100th birthday, so the last part of the story goes through her funeral, with "some prayers in Hebrew that I didn’t understand.” After the funeral, at home, the girls find two feathers that remind them of their grandmother and bring them to the yearly yahrzeit (a Jewish mourning custom explained in the author’s note). Written in a tone that feels like a much older person recalling memories of childhood experiences and emotions, this is a meandering but straightforward tale about a White-presenting Jewish family, with similarly straightforward illustrations, describing a realistic slice of life that may be calming to some but boring to others. This story could help some children contextualize their grief after losing a grandparent, but otherwise it has limited appeal. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A direct, quiet tale of loss likely to resonate with kids grappling with grief but few others. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: Jan. 17, 2023

ISBN: 978-1-250-83804-9

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S RELIGIOUS FICTION

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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)

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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
ON THE FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

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FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

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IT'S NOT EASY BEING A GHOST

From the It's Not Easy Being series

by Marilyn Sadler ; illustrated by Stephanie Laberis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 13, 2024

Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.

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A ghost longs to be scary, but none of the creepy personas she tries on fit.

Misty, a feline ghost with big green eyes and long whiskers, wants to be the frightening presence that her haunted house calls for, but sadly, she’s “too cute to be spooky.” She dons toilet paper to resemble a mummy, attempts to fly on a broom like a witch, and howls at the moon like a werewolf. Nothing works. She heads to a Halloween party dressed reluctantly as herself. When she arrives, her friends’ joyful screams reassure her that she’s great just as she is. Sadler’s message, though a familiar one, is delivered effectively in a charming, ghostly package. Misty truly is too precious to be frightening. Laberis depicts an endearingly spooky, all-animal cast—a frog witch, for instance, and a crocodilian mummy. Misty’s sidekick, a cheery little bat who lends support throughout, might be even more adorable than she is. Though Misty’s haunted house is filled with cobwebs and surrounded by jagged, leafless trees, the charming characters keep things from ever getting too frightening. The images will encourage lingering looks. Clearly, there’s plenty that makes Misty special just as she is—a takeaway that adults sharing the book with their little ones should be sure to drive home.

Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet. (Picture book. 4-6)