A unique perspective that highlights both sides of a disagreement.
Another wordless tale of compassion from the husband-and-wife creators of I Walk With Vanessa (2018).
Rowdy young Alex bounds across the crowded schoolyard with a basketball, swiping and swishing it away from others. Another group of students nearby are carefully studying a youngster’s art pages. The two groups collide when a sudden, overzealous throw by Alex accidentally knocks the pages into a puddle. The children go indoors, but everyone remembers the incident. The young artist is feeling down, and classmates are seen glaring and scowling at Alex throughout the day. Resolution takes emotional work from both sides: One must be brave to apologize; the other must be open to forgiveness. The two tots work it out, with a surprise, heartfelt reparation sealing the deal. The watercolor-and-ink artwork makes effective use of white space, alternating full pages with vignettes. The wordless format lends itself expertly to introspection. As readers look closely at the characters’ expressions to parse out the plot, they’ll feel the emotions right along with them, though this outing takes a bit more examination than the duo’s previous work. The two main characters are both White, while the surrounding class is diverse. Notes on conflict resolution are appended, directed both to children and adults. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A unique perspective that highlights both sides of a disagreement. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-38150-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House Studio
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022
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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