Will give kids the resources they need to make the first day of school a rousing success.
As they did with The Invisible String (2018), Karst and Lew-Vriethoff offer encouragement to kids coping with separation anxiety, this time tackling the back-to-school blues.
Mila is worried about her first day at her new school. What if she misses her parents and they need to come get her? Her mother has a solution. “There’s an Invisible String of love that connects us all day long. When you miss us, just tug on it and we’ll tug it right back.” Her brother, Jordan, tells her she also has an Invisible Backpack full of superpower solutions. What if no one likes her? She can look in her Invisible Mirror and remind herself that she can do anything. Mila worries about being too nervous to speak up in class, but an Invisible Microphone will give her the confidence she needs. Mila relies on these and other tools, and her first day goes smoothly. That night, as Mila drifts off to sleep, she realizes that everyone has a personalized bottomless Invisible Backpack. While the book is a bit text heavy and enumeration of the items in the backpack slows the story, readers feeling jittery about their own first days are sure to find much-needed reassurance. Splashes and swirls of color enhance the lively digital artwork. Mila and her family have brown skin and brown hair; her classmates are racially diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Will give kids the resources they need to make the first day of school a rousing success. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: July 11, 2023
ISBN: 9780316402286
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 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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