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A NEW DAY FOR UMWELL THE GRAY

Name: A NEW DAY FOR UMWELL THE GRAY
Author: Nathaniel Jenks
ISBN: 9780884489443

by Nathaniel Jenks ; illustrated by Rebecca Evans ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 2, 2023

Spirited revelations.

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It’s another dull day…until something new happens.

William’s world, his thoughts, and even his clothes are gray. His aunt teases that one day his hair will turn gray, but he continues to mope, bored that everything is always the same. Then a girl in a purple raincoat appears at the window and introduces herself as Purple. Taken aback, William stumbles when she asks him his name (“Um…well”), so Purple calls him Umwell. A sort of Manic Pixie Dream Girl, Purple takes him on a walk through the trees and to the beach as she demonstrates how nothing, not the water in a stream or falling leaves, is ever precisely the same from one moment to the next. They fly kites, examine starfish, and discover how even people change from day to day. Jenks explores several related themes—the healing power of nature, coming out of a somber mood, altering one’s perspective—that all work in tandem here. Though the friendship is a bit one-sided, with Purple existing seemingly only to inspire William, it’s a tale that will have many readers opening their own eyes. Evans’ delicate illustrations use color to indicate how Purple has enriched William’s world. By the end, though the boy still sports his gray raincoat, the once monochromatic, grayish-blue world has filled with more vibrant hues. William presents Asian; Purple is Black. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Spirited revelations. (Picture book. 3-8)

Pub Date: May 2, 2023

ISBN: 9780884489443

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Tilbury House

Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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CARPENTER'S HELPER

by Sybil Rosen ; illustrated by Camille Garoche ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 16, 2021

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.

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A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.

Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: March 16, 2021

ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random

Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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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)