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FIONA BUILDS A FAIRY HOUSE

Name: FIONA BUILDS A FAIRY HOUSE
Author: Kristen Dickson
ISBN: 9781250792570

by Kristen Dickson ; illustrated by Celia Krampien ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 2023

Sure to strike a chord with imaginative youngsters.

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Fiona has a vivid imagination…or does she?

Although Fiona has been fascinated by winged horses, gnomes, unicorns, mermaids, and ogres, now she loves fairies. They’re all she can talk about. When her teacher suggests building a fairy house so fairies will visit, Fiona asks her family to help, but her parents are occupied tending to the cat (several comical scenes depict the feline making a mess and being bathed), and her brother tells her fairies aren’t real. So she forages alone for supplies and finds the perfect location, an old sycamore tree with great roots and a round hollow. Unfortunately, as Fiona inventories her supplies, the traumatized cat zooms by, followed by her family, and all the supplies are lost. Fiona despairs. What if her brother is right and fairies and the other mythical creatures aren’t real? Luckily the tree hollow has an answer, and Fiona’s “imaginary” creatures emerge one by one with everything needed to build a fairy house…everything, that is, except a way to glue the pieces together. But the group finds a solution, and soon the fairy house becomes party central for Fiona’s creature friends. Ogre even saves a seat for Fiona’s doubting brother. Readers with scoffing siblings will be empowered by Fiona’s persistence and success. Cartoonish illustrations portray an idyllic setting with downright endearing mythical creatures—even the pea-green ogre appears pleasant. Fiona, her brother, and her mother are tan-skinned; her father is lighter-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Sure to strike a chord with imaginative youngsters. (Picture book. 3-8)

Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2023

ISBN: 9781250792570

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Roaring Brook Press

Review Posted Online: May 24, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S DRAGONS & MYTHICAL CREATURES | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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CARPENTER'S HELPER

by Sybil Rosen ; illustrated by Camille Garoche ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 16, 2021

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.

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A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.

Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: March 16, 2021

ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random

Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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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)