A springboard (but not much more) for talking to kids about being transgender.
A young transgender boy finds the words to come out to his parents and begin his transition.
At the beginning of the story, the narrator, a white trans boy, knows only that he is “not a girl.” Something is wrong, but he can’t quite name it. Over the course of the book, he comes to be able to say “I am a boy.” At the public pool, he meets new friends, black siblings, and they teach him the word “transgender,” arming him to come out to his parents. The story ends with the most touching of the largely uninspiring illustrations, as the boy smiles at his new haircut in the barbershop mirror. This straightforward coming-out story may be useful as an issue teaching tool, but it doesn’t have the spark that makes a picture book special. It pales when held up to Kyle Lukoff and Kaylani Juanita’s When Aidan Became a Brother (2019), the only real competition in the category of picture books about transgender boys, lacking both the heart and the comfortable trans competency. Verdi and Lyons are careful to neither disparage girls nor fall into the common trap of gender stereotyping trans children, and the first-person narration at first seems like a clever way to obscure the boy’s birth name—but unfortunately, the dreaded name still weasels its way into the didactic text.
A springboard (but not much more) for talking to kids about being transgender. (authors’ notes, illustrator’s note, famous transgender people, resources) (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-374-31068-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
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
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.
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)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9780593702901
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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