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LITTLE TRACTOR WANTS TO FLY

Name: LITTLE TRACTOR WANTS TO FLY
Author: Natalie Quintart
ISBN: 9798890630308

From the Little Tractor series , Vol. 6

by Natalie Quintart ; illustrated by Philippe Goossens ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 23, 2024

Good-hearted lessons from an earnest, lovable protagonist.

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“I want to be like you, and you want to be like me!”

In this addition to the Little Tractor series, originally published in Belgium and the Netherlands, Little Tractor and his barnyard friends meet Gaston, a small one-seater airplane. Little Tractor envies Gaston’s ability to fly and do acrobatic stunts. A few days later, Little Tractor surprises his friends by strapping a wooden board to his hood—these are his wings, he explains. But when Little Tractor revs up to fly, he ends up plowing into a group of bushes. Though his friends remind him of all he can do, Little Tractor remains upset over what he can’t do—fly. As luck would have it, Gaston swoops in too low one day and gets stuck in a tree in the woods. Anton the horse pulls Gaston out of the tree, but the plane doesn’t have enough room to take off. Little Tractor comes to the rescue and takes to heart Gaston’s praise—and envy—of his pulling ability. By the time Gaston leaves, both he and Little Tractor have learned to appreciate their own special strengths. Little Tractor, illustrated in bright red, is a cheery contrast to blue-and-white Gaston. Attentive readers will notice how Little Tractor’s and Gaston’s facial features add emotion to each scene. Colorful, detailed backgrounds complete each scene and make this book a strong storytime read that will help little ones learn to value what makes them special.

Good-hearted lessons from an earnest, lovable protagonist. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: July 23, 2024

ISBN: 9798890630308

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Clavis

Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S TRANSPORTATION

- BOOK REVIEW
LITTLE TRACTOR LEARNS HOW TO SHARE
by Natalie Quintart ; illustrated by Philippe Goossens

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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)

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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
ON THE FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

- BOOK REVIEW
FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

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BECAUSE YOUR DADDY LOVES YOU

by Andrew Clements & illustrated by R.W. Alley ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 23, 2005

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Give this child’s-eye view of a day at the beach with an attentive father high marks for coziness: “When your ball blows across the sand and into the ocean and starts to drift away, your daddy could say, Didn’t I tell you not to play too close to the waves? But he doesn’t. He wades out into the cold water. And he brings your ball back to the beach and plays roll and catch with you.” Alley depicts a moppet and her relaxed-looking dad (to all appearances a single parent) in informally drawn beach and domestic settings: playing together, snuggling up on the sofa and finally hugging each other goodnight. The third-person voice is a bit distancing, but it makes the togetherness less treacly, and Dad’s mix of love and competence is less insulting, to parents and children both, than Douglas Wood’s What Dads Can’t Do (2000), illus by Doug Cushman. (Picture book. 5-7)