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CAN U SAVE THE DAY?

Name: CAN U SAVE THE DAY?
Author: Shannon Stocker
ISBN: 978-1-58536-404-6

by Shannon Stocker ; illustrated by Tom Disbury ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 15, 2019

The moral of the story: Don’t anger vowels, or horses will go “ngh.” (Picture book. 4-8)

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The vowels raise havoc when they quit the farm after being insulted by the consonants.

There are five vowels (well, sometimes six or seven) while there are 21 consonants (well, sometimes 19 or 20). B seems to think that makes consonants better and more important. “The letter B stuck out his tongue / and bragged, ‘Our group is #1!’ ” A is offended and leaves, warning “You’ll regret / when all the vowels are gone, I bet.” When A disappears, the dog goes “brk,” the duck goes “quck,” and the frog goes “crok.” E leaves, too, and the sheep go “blt.” After I and O depart, the rooster goes “cck-ddl-d.” Fortunately, U takes pity on the consonants when a sleeping tractor goes out of control and all it can do is “hnk.” Clasping its hands over its head, U makes an O, causing the tractor to “honk” to wake up. The letters make peace and decide they are all one big family. This is a merry outing, with simple artwork that illustrates how funny words look when they drop a few letters. Fun can also be had for younger readers trying to figure out which letters are missing from a pig’s “onk” and a bird’s “twt”; classroom extension possibilities seem nearly endless. Stocker’s wordplay is the icing on the cake.

The moral of the story: Don’t anger vowels, or horses will go “ngh.” (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-58536-404-6

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press

Review Posted Online: June 15, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS

- BOOK REVIEW
STRONGER AT THE SEAMS
by Shannon Stocker

- BOOK REVIEW
LISTEN
by Shannon Stocker ; illustrated by Devon Holzwarth

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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)