An emotional-literacy booster to add to the regular reading rotation.
All young children learn that an enthusiastic “Can I play too?” is the fastest way to make new friends, but it isn’t always smooth sailing.
Two children sit together to build a train track. Anyone who has been around kids knows the chaos that can erupt between children trying to work together to build the perfect track. However, it is also a chance for a lot of learning opportunities. As readers turn the pages, they see one child take the lead as the other becomes more and more frustrated not to be heard. This is seen mostly in the children’s facial expressions and posture. Ultimately, the child who’s not heard gets angry and storms off, leaving the other child confused. This child’s mother sees what has happened and jumps in with some helpful tools on reading others’ emotions and appropriately reacting to them: green, yellow, and red signals like a traffic light’s. The iconic smiley/frowny faces that accompany this lesson nicely complement the clarity of Cotterill’s character depictions. (The child who dominates in play presents white; their playmate presents black.) It’s a simple lesson in empathy that can go a long way. The book wraps up with the children trying to build a new track and then putting into practice what they learned—a lesson that is definitely not limited to playtime.
An emotional-literacy booster to add to the regular reading rotation. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 31, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-525-55346-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
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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