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I AM A RAINBOW!

Name: I AM A RAINBOW!
Author: Mark Kanemura
ISBN: 9780316167789

by Mark Kanemura with Steve Foxe ; illustrated by Richard Merritt ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 9, 2023

Joyful, though it doesn’t quite live up to its exuberant main character.

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So You Think You Can Dance? star Kanemura tells a story about his younger self.

When Mark, a flamboyant, tan-skinned child, is at home with his adoring family, he’s celebrated for his love of performance and dressing up. But at school, he’s teased by cruel classmates. His attentive parents give him a shimmering rainbow cape, with the affirmation that “The world is a rainbow made up of a billion colors. And your color is totally unique.” The cape gives Mark his confidence back, enabling him to befriend a racially diverse group of “fierce, fabulous, and fun” kids he meets at a playground. But the cape goes missing, and Mark fears that his new crew will drop him. Instead, they affirm him, and the power of friendship inspires Mark “to be a rainbow cape that helps others realize the light inside of them, too.” The final spread, highlighting Merritt’s busy, color-bursting illustrations, shows Mark growing up to be an unapologetically bold and fearless adult. Young fans of Kanemura will be delighted by this narrative, which appears to be set in his native Honolulu, and adults can learn a lot from the protagonist’s supportive family. Still, the plot is a bit too thin to make it stand out from the pack of self-acceptance offerings. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Joyful, though it doesn’t quite live up to its exuberant main character. (author’s foreword) (Picture book. 4-9)

Pub Date: May 9, 2023

ISBN: 9780316167789

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS

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LITTLE DAYMOND LEARNS TO EARN

by Daymond John ; illustrated by Nicole Miles ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 21, 2023

It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.

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How to raise money for a coveted poster: put your friends to work!

John, founder of the FUBU fashion line and a Shark Tank venture capitalist, offers a self-referential blueprint for financial success. Having only half of the $10 he needs for a Minka J poster, Daymond forks over $1 to buy a plain T-shirt, paints a picture of the pop star on it, sells it for $5, and uses all of his cash to buy nine more shirts. Then he recruits three friends to decorate them with his design and help sell them for an unspecified amount (from a conveniently free and empty street-fair booth) until they’re gone. The enterprising entrepreneur reimburses himself for the shirts and splits the remaining proceeds, which leaves him with enough for that poster as well as a “brand-new business book,” while his friends express other fiscal strategies: saving their share, spending it all on new art supplies, or donating part and buying a (math) book with the rest. (In a closing summation, the author also suggests investing in stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrency.) Though Miles cranks up the visual energy in her sparsely detailed illustrations by incorporating bright colors and lots of greenbacks, the actual advice feels a bit vague. Daymond is Black; most of the cast are people of color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. (Picture book. 7-9)

Pub Date: March 21, 2023

ISBN: 978-0-593-56727-2

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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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)