An insightful, imaginative story about embracing our full selves.
A child celebrates their multifaceted identity and heritage.
At school, with Multicultural Day looming, the unnamed narrator’s teacher asks the class to create a project that celebrates their cultures. The other students immediately identify objects that represent a single country or tradition. But the narrator identifies with three different countries: India, where Papa is from; Germany, where Mama is from, and America, where the family lives now. While at first this collection of identities feels confusing, a German, Indian, and American dessert combination sparks the epiphany the protagonist needs to realize that their story’s complexity is exactly what makes it beautiful. The next day, when the child shares their assignment with their classmates, they are delighted to learn that they are not the only student with a complicated heritage—or the only one who understands how rich a multiracial, multiethnic life can be. This richly illustrated, poetically told story builds upon the tradition of books like Natasha Wing and Robert Casilla’s Jalapeño Bagels (1996) and Malathi Michelle Iyengar and Jennifer Wanardi’s Romina’s Rangoli (2007) with one important addition: It honors the child’s American heritage alongside their parents’ immigrant status. The relatable narratorial voice and lively, momentum-packed pictures combine for a fast-paced story starring a protagonist who finds a creative solution to their problem. This child-centered story eschews pontification in favor of quirky, thought-provoking fun. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
An insightful, imaginative story about embracing our full selves. (Picture book. 3-8)Pub Date: June 20, 2023
ISBN: 9781665901840
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
Sadly, the storytelling runs aground.
A little red sleigh has big Christmas dreams.
Although the detailed, full-color art doesn’t anthropomorphize the protagonist (which readers will likely identify as a sled and not a sleigh), a close third-person text affords the object thoughts and feelings while assigning feminine pronouns. “She longed to become Santa’s big red sleigh,” reads an early line establishing the sleigh’s motivation to leave her Christmas-shop home for the North Pole. Other toys discourage her, but she perseveres despite creeping self-doubt. A train and truck help the sleigh along, and when she wishes she were big, fast, and powerful like them, they offer encouragement and counsel patience. When a storm descends after the sleigh strikes out on her own, an unnamed girl playing in the snow brings her to a group of children who all take turns riding the sleigh down a hill. When the girl brings her home, the sleigh is crestfallen she didn’t reach the North Pole. A convoluted happily-ever-after ending shows a note from Santa that thanks the sleigh for giving children joy and invites her to the North Pole next year. “At last she understood what she was meant to do. She would build her life up spreading joy, one child at a time.” Will she leave the girl’s house to be gifted to other children? Will she stay and somehow also reach ever more children? Readers will be left wondering. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-18-inch double-page spreads viewed at 31.8% of actual size.)
Sadly, the storytelling runs aground. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-72822-355-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020
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