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THE WORD COLLECTOR

Name: THE WORD COLLECTOR
Author: Peter H. Reynolds
ISBN: 978-0-545-86502-9

by Peter H. Reynolds ; illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 30, 2018

Enchanting if monolingual.

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Young logophile Jerome moves through a deepening relationship with words in Reynolds’ latest.

Jerome, a young boy of color, is a fastidious collector, but rather than collecting bugs or coins or comic books, Jerome collects words. Words that are new to him, words that sound fascinating to him, words that delight him—Jerome copies down his favorites and keeps them organized in scrapbooks. One day, Jerome takes a tumble, and his books of words seem to explode, and clouds of paper fill the page. His collection becomes fantastically jumbled as “words he had not imagined being side by side” suddenly inspire Jerome to make new creations not only to collect, but also to share. Phrases become poems, and poems become songs. Simple words share powerful feelings. Even as he delights in sharing of himself with his burgeoning lexicon, he decides to share his collection as well, releasing it into the wind for others to find and begin their own collections. In his love letter to those who take delight in words, Reynolds elegantly and with almost ironic brevity demonstrates the entrancing meanings and sounds and textures of English words together with uncluttered (if fairly literal) illustrations to capture the beauty of words and the wonder of sharing them with others. (Languages other than English are largely unrepresented.)

Enchanting if monolingual. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Jan. 30, 2018

ISBN: 978-0-545-86502-9

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Scholastic

Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS

- BOOK REVIEW
I AM WE
by Susan Verde ; illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds

- BOOK REVIEW
THE REFLECTION IN ME
by Marc Colagiovanni ; illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds

- BOOK REVIEW
ALL WE NEED IS LOVE AND A REALLY SOFT PILLOW!
by Peter H. Reynolds & Henry Rocket Reynolds ; illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds

- SEEN & HEARD
Obamas Read Children’s Book for Chicago Library

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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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THE CRAYONS' CHRISTMAS

From the Creative Creature Catcher series

by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 15, 2019

Haphazard but jolly enough for one outing; it probably won’t last for more.

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A flurry of mail addressed to Duncan’s crayons ushers in the Christmas season in this novelty spinoff of the bestselling The Day the Crayons Quit (2013) and The Day the Crayons Came Home (2015).

Actual cards and letters are tucked into envelopelike pouches pasted to the pages; these are joined in some cases by other ephemera for a package that is likely to invite sudden, intense play followed by loss and/or damage that will render the book a disappointment to reread. That’s probably OK, as in contrast to the clever story that kicked this small series off, this outing has a hastily composed feel that lacks cohesion. The first letter is addressed to Peach from Mom and includes a paper doll of the “naked” (de-wrappered) crayon along with a selection of tabbed changes of clothing that includes a top hat and tails and a bikini top and bottom. Peach’s implied gender fluidity does not mitigate the unfortunate association of peach with skin color established in the first book. The sense of narrative improvisation is cemented with an early page turn that takes the crayons from outdoors snow play to “Feeling…suddenly very Christmas-y, the crayons headed inside.” Readers can unpack a box of punch-out decorations; a recipe for gluten-free Christmas cookies that begins “go to store and buy gluten-free cookies”; a punch-out dreidel (turns out Grey is Jewish); a board game (“six-sided die” not included); and a map of Esteban (aka Pea Green) and Neon Red’s travels with Santa.

Haphazard but jolly enough for one outing; it probably won’t last for more. (Novelty. 4-8)