Perfect for lively read-alouds, especially during times of homebound play when children just need to shout!
Bold, brash, and bursting with personality—this book should be read with an outdoor voice!
Endpapers explode with colors and patterns, and the protagonist—a beige-skinned kid with straight, black hair—declares, “I don’t want to be quiet, I’d rather be LOUD!” Readers will know a boisterous adventure awaits them. Clad in a robot mask and carrying a broom turned into a rocket ship, the narrator is full of life and loves being loud, at the expense of baby brother’s nap and Mom’s patience. Lively rhyming text, set at times in big capital letters, conveys this kid’s enthusiasm, bouncing through life raucously, making noise on stairs and with spoons, humming, popping balloons, burping (“oops”), and more. But then, during a trip to the quiet library (“BORING”), when, following an outburst, other library users shush the noisemaker, the effusive protagonist opens a book. Within is a thrilling tale to keep that busy mind occupied while reading silently. Readers can see the adventures the narrator imagines, rendered with equal joy to the real-life escapades. Better still, it turns out that being quiet leads to the discovery of all sorts of new sounds all around. Fear not, this kid still has loud moments, but now they are balanced. Vivid, imaginative illustrations engage readers and viscerally convey the wide range of emotions felt by this audacious protagonist. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10.8-by-19-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Perfect for lively read-alouds, especially during times of homebound play when children just need to shout! (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Nov. 3, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-11728-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2020
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
Wins for compassion and for the refusal to let physical limitations hold one back.
With such short arms, how can Tiny T. Rex give a sad friend a hug?
Fleck goes for cute in the simple, minimally detailed illustrations, drawing the diminutive theropod with a chubby turquoise body and little nubs for limbs under a massive, squared-off head. Impelled by the sight of stegosaurian buddy Pointy looking glum, little Tiny sets out to attempt the seemingly impossible, a comforting hug. Having made the rounds seeking advice—the dino’s pea-green dad recommends math; purple, New Age aunt offers cucumber juice (“That is disgusting”); red mom tells him that it’s OK not to be able to hug (“You are tiny, but your heart is big!”), and blue and yellow older sibs suggest practice—Tiny takes up the last as the most immediately useful notion. Unfortunately, the “tree” the little reptile tries to hug turns out to be a pterodactyl’s leg. “Now I am falling,” Tiny notes in the consistently self-referential narrative. “I should not have let go.” Fortunately, Tiny lands on Pointy’s head, and the proclamation that though Rexes’ hugs may be tiny, “I will do my very best because you are my very best friend” proves just the mood-lightening ticket. “Thank you, Tiny. That was the biggest hug ever.” Young audiences always find the “clueless grown-ups” trope a knee-slapper, the overall tone never turns preachy, and Tiny’s instinctive kindness definitely puts him at (gentle) odds with the dinky dino star of Bob Shea’s Dinosaur Vs. series.
Wins for compassion and for the refusal to let physical limitations hold one back. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: March 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4521-7033-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 11, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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