A gorgeously rendered, heartfelt picture book with an important mission statement and helpful calls to action.
Communities work best when people make room—and safe housing—for everyone.
“Everywhere, everywhere people…need our help,” the book begins, introducing the idea that some need assistance because they don’t have a safe place to live. With spare text and full, two-page spread illustrations, Recinos and Ravensdale depict white and BIPOC people of various ages, shapes, and abilities living in many different places across the U.S. Notably, unhoused people are indistinguishable from housed people in an effort to humanize everyone. As the book progresses, it’s clear that some of the families are building new spaces in their own backyards, like tiny houses, where someone could live. These families also share food and clothing with neighbors in need. The characters come together to restore a decrepit shopping mall into housing, holding signs that show they envision a world where everyone works together to end homelessness. Recinos has written about her own experience being unhoused in a memoir for older readers (Hindsight [2018]), and her compassion shines throughout this humane tale. Ravensdale’s painterly digital images illustrate people modeling widespread community care, ably depicting kind faces and expressions.
A gorgeously rendered, heartfelt picture book with an important mission statement and helpful calls to action.Pub Date: July 8, 2024
ISBN: 9781951542627
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: June 27, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
New parents of daughters will eat these up and perhaps pass on the lessons learned.
All the reasons why a daughter needs a mother.
Each spread features an adorable cartoon animal parent-child pair on the recto opposite a rhyming verse: “I’ll always support you in giving your all / in every endeavor, the big and the small, / and be there to catch you in case you should fall. / I hope you believe this is true.” A virtually identical book, Why a Daughter Needs a Dad, publishes simultaneously. Both address standing up for yourself and your values, laughing to ease troubles, being thankful, valuing friendship, persevering and dreaming big, being truthful, thinking through decisions, and being open to differences, among other topics. Though the sentiments/life lessons here and in the companion title are heartfelt and important, there are much better ways to deliver them. These books are likely to go right over children’s heads and developmental levels (especially with the rather advanced vocabulary); their parents are the more likely audience, and for them, the books provide some coaching in what kids need to hear. The two books are largely interchangeable, especially since there are so few references to mom or dad, but one spread in each book reverts to stereotype: Dad balances the two-wheeler, and mom helps with clothing and hair styles. Since the books are separate, it aids in customization for many families.
New parents of daughters will eat these up and perhaps pass on the lessons learned. (Picture book. 4-8, adult)Pub Date: May 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4926-6781-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2019
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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