Sensitive and emotionally true, a comforting portrayal of big emotions.
Katie is a girl who is always nice, polite, and agreeable—well, almost always.
Everyone says that Katie, who has straight dark hair, dot eyes, and a big curve of a smile, is a pleasure. She’s a good sport, helps with her little brother, Chuck, and makes her parents proud. But she has a secret: Sometimes she grumblesquinches. That’s when “my insides tighten and I think mean thoughts.” It’s when she wishes her brother didn’t wake her up or take her seat. It’s when she wishes she didn’t have a little brother at all. Even when Chuck puts his hand right into her bowl of cereal, she grumblesquinches her bad feelings down. Katie’s mother, who also has straight dark hair, and her father, who has a ruddy complexion and brown hair, think Chuck is just being adorable. But when Chuck tries to hug her with his milky hands and buttery face, ruining her new rainbow shirt, her feelings cannot be grumblesquinched any longer, and she explodes: “Chuck ruins everything!” Her pent-up anger pours out, and then Katie is scared. What if her parents don’t think she’s a pleasure anymore? Yum’s sweet colored-pencil illustrations perfectly convey Katie’s personality and emotional landscape and deftly work with the text to portray the complexities of her inner life. Readers who can relate will be reassured by the loving response from Katie’s mother. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Sensitive and emotionally true, a comforting portrayal of big emotions. (author's and illustrator's notes) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Aug. 16, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-338-75116-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
Being kind and helpful lights up the day from within in this inspiring and idyllic slice-of-life tale.
Actor, social media star, and entrepreneur Brown pens a joyful paean to positive thinking in her children’s debut.
Brown-skinned Tab rides a strawberry-themed bike, accompanied by a curly-haired black dog, Grady. Tab’s dazzling smile and wide eyes signal the upbeat theme echoed in the text, celebrating the sun’s warmth, which “fills everyone up with joy.” But Tab’s mood shifts, as it’s a “cloudy and gray” June day. Alert readers will spot the dog’s smiling countenance and note glimpses of sunny yellow butterflies and flowers. Mama’s reassurance that there’s “always a chance” for sunshine also underscores the optimism. Tab and Grady bike through suburban streets “to find the sun.” Along the way, the two stop to assist a neighbor building a birdhouse, loft a kite for friends Frankie and Fonte, and lend a hand to others, all while still having fun. Mama steers Tab toward an eventual understanding of the real source of joy: Though the sun didn’t appear, “I brightened everyone’s day!” The illustrations subtly underscore the message of this radiant story as touches of gold lighten the palette, which ends with sunny brilliance. Most characters read Black, though Tab’s community includes people who vary in skin tone, body type, and ability.
Being kind and helpful lights up the day from within in this inspiring and idyllic slice-of-life tale. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 11, 2025
ISBN: 9780063342262
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 21, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2025
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
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