A heartfelt narrative steeped in love and tradition.
Connections to ancestors and cultural identity flow when a young Afro-Latine New Yorker bonds with her grandma.
The narrator, who’s brown-skinned with black hair braided in cornrows, loves spending time with brown-skinned Abuela, who used to live by the sea and misses it dearly. On Saturdays they walk down from Harlem toward Twelfth Avenue to the Hudson River. While the girl has never lived by the sea, she experiences a range of strong emotions when she’s near the river: quiet, curious, happy, and, sometimes, a mix of feelings. Abuela explains that they visit the Hudson to express gratitude to Yemaya, a Yoruba goddess of motherhood and the sea. Imagining Yemaya as a brown-skinned mermaid with a blue tail, the child thanks the river. As Abuela and the child walk home, the love between them, and their affection for the river, is palpable. An author’s note adds more information about Yemaya, who became associated with the ocean following the Middle Passage, and reminisces about her own Puerto Rican grandmother. Sweet, simple prose brimming with emotion celebrates cultural heritage and the connection between generations, while vivid, childlike illustrations capture the warmth of family moments. Both text and art home in on details of the bustling city, from the piragua cart the child passes to the honking of cars; it’s a potent reminder that young urbanites can forge bonds with nature, too.
A heartfelt narrative steeped in love and tradition. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2024
ISBN: 9781665912570
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Denene Millner Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
Say hello to a relatable and rewarding early reader!
Fun with friends makes for a great day.
Norbit, a salmon-colored worm with a pink kerchief, joyfully greets the day and everyone he encounters. “Hello, friends! It’s time for fun with the sun! Let’s play!” He and his menagerie of forest pals—including the sun, who grows limbs and descends from the sky—exuberantly engage in various forms of physical activity such as jumping, going down a slide, spinning around, and watching the clouds go by. Young readers will readily relate, as these are games that most children are familiar with. As day turns to night, Norbit says farewell to Sun and welcomes Moon with an invitation to continue the fun. Watkins has created a vivid world of movement and merriment. Her illustrations feature bright bursts of color that match the energy of the text, with most sentences ending in an exclamation point. The author/illustrator incorporates many elements that make for an ideal early-reading experience (despite the use of a contraction or two): art free from clutter, text consisting of words with only one or two syllables, and repetition and recurring bits, such as a continued game of hide-and-seek with Sun. Inspired by never-before-seen sketches from the Dr. Seuss Collection archives at the University of California San Diego, this is the first title for Seuss Studios, a new imprint for original stories from “emerging authors and illustrators” who “honor Seuss’s hallmark spirit of creativity and imagination.”
Say hello to a relatable and rewarding early reader! (author's note) (Early reader. 5-8)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780593646212
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Seuss Studios
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
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