Certain to instill a passion for the ocean and its many wonders.
A gentle story of family environmental stewardship.
Aaron and his sister, Angel, live by the ocean, where they and their parents serve as ocean guardians, volunteers who take care of the beach. Angel, a strong swimmer for whom the ocean is a second home, has nicknamed herself “Coral Girl,” but Aaron fears going underwater. Mom and Dad reassure him that one day he’ll be ready. Later, a big storm litters the beach with trash, which the ocean guardians clean up. The children fantasize about finding a way “to clean up the ocean for good”: with a huge vacuum cleaner, perhaps, or a robot fish. When Aaron finds an octopus stranded on the shore, Dad encourages it to wrap itself around a branch and puts it back into the water. Mesmerized, Aaron watches the octopus as it stares back at him. Aaron dons his goggles and goes underwater to watch his friend swim away. His fear banished, Aaron embarks on a new relationship with the ocean as he observes wildlife—and always keeps an eye out for his friend the octopus. Wilson-Max’s deeply saturated, thickly outlined acrylic paintings depict vibrant scenes of ocean life and effectively capture the love between Aaron’s family members, their passion for this coastal habitat, and their frustration upon witnessing ocean pollution. Aaron and his family are brown-skinned.
Certain to instill a passion for the ocean and its many wonders. (information about octopuses, the impact of trash on marine life, and the role of ocean guardians) (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: May 21, 2024
ISBN: 9781536236644
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2024
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share.
In this latest in the series, Little Blue Truck, driven by pal Toad, is challenged to a countryside race by Racer Red, a sleek, low-slung vehicle.
Blue agrees, and the race is on. Although the two start off “hood to hood / and wheel to wheel,” they switch positions often as they speed their way over dusty country roads. Blue’s farm friends follow along to share in the excitement and shout out encouragement; adult readers will have fun voicing the various animal sounds. Short rhyming verses on each page and several strategic page turns add drama to the narrative, but soft, mottled effects in the otherwise colorful illustrations keep the competition from becoming too intense. Racer Red crosses the finish line first, but Blue is a gracious loser, happy to have worked hard. That’s a new concept for Racer Red, who’s laser-focused on victory but takes Blue’s words (“win or lose, it’s fun to try!”) to heart—a revelation that may lead to worthwhile storytime discussions. When Blue’s farm animal friends hop into the truck for the ride home, Racer Red tags along and learns a second lesson, one about speed. “Fast is fun, / and slow is too, / as long as you’re / with friends.”
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9780063387843
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
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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