Hooray for these young friends who work together; this diverse crew will have readers looking forward to more.
Seven-year-old Veronica teams up with friends to help solve classmate Maya’s problem, launching a series.
When Maya, a little girl with East Asian features in Dockray’s accompanying illustrations, can’t enjoy recess, the little white girl discovers the problem: Maya is deathly afraid of bugs, which ruins the best part of the day. Veronica tries a variety of strategies to coax her friend out, but each “solution” seems to add to the problem. Clowning around to elicit a laugh results in the dumping of a can full of charity pennies onto the floor. A fake spider at lunch has Maya screaming in alarm, which sets off a flurry in the cafeteria that ends with the principal on her backside when she slips on her soup. A real solution is found when Veronica observes her baby sister adjusting to her fear of the vacuum with gradual exposure. Her counselor mom helps come up with baby steps to try. Since 7- and 8-year-olds are often struck by fears and anxiety, this book fills its niche perfectly. Wise adults help the youngsters form reasonable solutions, but the kids are the ones who act on the solutions in a respectful way. The daring inclusion of the word “butt” suits Veronica’s trenchant voice and will summon both giggles and gasps.
Hooray for these young friends who work together; this diverse crew will have readers looking forward to more. (Fiction. 4-8)Pub Date: May 16, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-08584-9
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Imprint
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2017
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
While the blend of folklore, fantasy and realism is certainly far-fetched, Imani, with her winning personality, is a child...
Imani endures the insults heaped upon her by the other village children, but she never gives up her dreams.
The Masai girl is tiny compared to the other children, but she is full of imagination and perseverance. Luckily, she has a mother who believes in her and tells her stories that will fuel that imagination. Mama tells her about the moon goddess, Olapa, who wins over the sun god. She tells Imani about Anansi, the trickster spider who vanquishes a larger snake. (Troublingly, the fact that Anansi is a West African figure, not of the Masai, goes unaddressed in both text and author’s note.) Inspired, the tiny girl tries to find new ways to achieve her dream: to touch the moon. One day, after crashing to the ground yet again when her leafy wings fail, she is ready to forget her hopes. That night, she witnesses the adumu, the special warriors’ jumping dance. Imani wakes the next morning, determined to jump to the moon. After jumping all day, she reaches the moon, meets Olapa and receives a special present from the goddess, a small moon rock. Now she becomes the storyteller when she relates her adventure to Mama. The watercolor-and-graphite illustrations have been enhanced digitally, and the night scenes of storytelling and fantasy with their glowing stars and moons have a more powerful impact than the daytime scenes, with their blander colors.
While the blend of folklore, fantasy and realism is certainly far-fetched, Imani, with her winning personality, is a child to be admired. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-934133-57-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Mackinac Island Press
Review Posted Online: July 28, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2014
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