Playing a wrong note strikes the right chord for a determined little girl in this winning children’s story.
In Bader’s picture book, a new nickname invites a new perspective.
Petunia is a little girl who believes that everything has its proper place and that anything done less than perfectly is unacceptable. (“If there was one thing Petunia knew, it was the importance of being PERFECT.”) Petunia has never heard of a “perfectionist,” but when she overhears her classmate call her one, she looks up the word in the dictionary and proudly shares her new nickname with her mother at home. Petunia isn’t convinced when her mother tells her that there are benefits to making mistakes…until the unthinkable happens and Petunia makes a mistake herself. Encouraged by her teacher and her classmates, this aha moment helps her understand what her mom meant. Bader’s engaging text misses an opportunity: While highlighting the word mistake in red likely represents Petunia’s attitude toward imperfections, it reinforces her aversion when another color would have better supported the book’s theme of mistakes promoting growth. The images of Petunia’s fastidiously organized coloring pencils and books in Beykzadeh’s illustrations highlight her perfectionism and the book’s warm color palette. When other characters are depicted in shadow form, Petunia’s hyperfocus is made distinct. Figuring prominently throughout, the color purple cleverly chimes with the alliterative title.
Playing a wrong note strikes the right chord for a determined little girl in this winning children’s story.Pub Date: Aug. 12, 2024
ISBN: 9798985768169
Page Count: 32
Publisher: M. Bader Media
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
PERSPECTIVES
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
BOOK REVIEW
This warm family story is a splendid showcase for the combined talents of Medina, a Pura Belpré award winner, and Dominguez,...
Abuela is coming to stay with Mia and her parents. But how will they communicate if Mia speaks little Spanish and Abuela, little English? Could it be that a parrot named Mango is the solution?
The measured, evocative text describes how Mia’s español is not good enough to tell Abuela the things a grandmother should know. And Abuela’s English is too poquito to tell Mia all the stories a granddaughter wants to hear. Mia sets out to teach her Abuela English. A red feather Abuela has brought with her to remind her of a wild parrot that roosted in her mango trees back home gives Mia an idea. She and her mother buy a parrot they name Mango. And as Abuela and Mia teach Mango, and each other, to speak both Spanish and English, their “mouths [fill] with things to say.” The accompanying illustrations are charmingly executed in ink, gouache, and marker, “with a sprinkling of digital magic.” They depict a cheery urban neighborhood and a comfortable, small apartment. Readers from multigenerational immigrant families will recognize the all-too-familiar language barrier. They will also cheer for the warm and loving relationship between Abuela and Mia, which is evident in both text and illustrations even as the characters struggle to understand each other. A Spanish-language edition, Mango, Abuela, y yo, gracefully translated by Teresa Mlawer, publishes simultaneously.
This warm family story is a splendid showcase for the combined talents of Medina, a Pura Belpré award winner, and Dominguez, an honoree. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6900-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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