A moving refugee story laced with optimism and magic.
A young girl and her grandparents must leave war-torn Aleppo, Syria, to find a new home.
Dounia, whose name means the world in Arabic, goes to the souk to get baraka seeds for her grandmother Teta Mouneh. The spice seller, Abdo, gives her the seeds and tells her they are magic. At home, her neighbor Mrs. Dabbouss reads the coffee grounds in Teta Mouneh’s cup and foresees an arduous journey that will end with “a blue house in a bright white country.” Teta tells Dounia to hold on to some of the seeds. One night, as the two of them dry eggplant on the roof, a bomb explodes in the courtyard, breaking windows, destroying the fountain, and killing Kiki, the family’s pet canary. Jeddo Darwish, Dounia’s grandfather, announces that they must leave and gives her a dove carved from soap. As they travel, Dounia realizes she still has several of the baraka seeds, and each time she tosses one, something happens to ease them along on their trek. In this tale translated from French, Zarif captures the perilous journey well, blending grim elements—travel by boat, barbed wire fences, soldiers—with the fantastical. The artwork has a whimsical feeling that makes the tough subject matter manageable. In an author’s note, Zarif discusses her sadness at seeing the devastating of Aleppo, where she grew up, and her hopes for her people. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A moving refugee story laced with optimism and magic. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 14, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-77147-523-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Owlkids Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2023
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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