bookshelf

MANGO MEMORIES

Name: MANGO MEMORIES
Author: Sita Singh
ISBN: 9780593486252

by Sita Singh ; illustrated by Nabi H. Ali ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 9, 2024

A celebration of life's little pleasures.

bookshelf

A young South Asian girl is excited to pick mangoes with her family.

As the family walks to the mango tree, the young narrator is thrilled: She’s finally old enough to help pick them. Her brother tells her that everyone has a mango memory. He describes the excitement he felt climbing a tree for the first time to pluck mangoes. When the girl begins to climb, however, she gets dizzy. Seeing her upset, her father reminisces about how, when he was a boy, a generous benefactor shared mangoes from his orchard. The narrator’s grandmother tries to get her excited again by pointing a well-aimed stone at the hard-to-reach mangoes, but despite her many tries, the girl keeps missing. She frets that she hasn’t created any joyful memories. At home, the family delights in their harvest, with mango juice dripping down their chins and sticky pulp covering their faces, and the girl realizes that she’s found her mango memory. Singh brings to life the excitement of waiting to pick—and finally eating—mangoes: a tradition observed by many South Asian families. Though the writing is a bit flat in places, the family’s joyful bonding is palpable, and Ali’s images brim with warmth, especially the mangoes, which pop against the page. Characters are depicted with a wide range of brown skin tones.

A celebration of life's little pleasures. (Hindi glossary, author’s note, mango facts) (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: April 9, 2024

ISBN: 9780593486252

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Anne Schwartz/Random

Review Posted Online: March 9, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
BIRDS OF A FEATHER
by Sita Singh ; illustrated by Stephanie Fizer Coleman

bookshelf

THE WORLD NEEDS THE WONDER YOU SEE

by Joanna Gaines ; illustrated by Julianna Swaney ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 28, 2025

Handy advice for perpetually inquisitive children.

bookshelf

Interior decorator and TV personality Gaines invites readers to open their eyes and exercise their imaginations.

There’s a world to be explored out there—and only children can really take part. What does “looking for wonder” entail? Slowing down and looking up, around, and everywhere. At the outset, a group of eager, racially diverse young friends—including one who uses a wheelchair—are fully prepared for a grand adventure. They offer tips about how and where to look: Why, there’s a “grand parade” of marching ants! And, these kids add, perspective is key. A rainy day might signal gloom to some, but to those filled with wonder, showers bring “magic puddles for play”; a forest is “an enchanted world,” the ocean conceals “a spectacular city,” and the night sky boasts “extraordinary sights.” The takeaway: “Wonder is never in short supply.” It’s a robust, empowering message, as is the exhortation to “keep your mind open, and let curiosity guide the way.” Youngsters are also advised to share their discoveries. The upbeat narrative is delivered in clunky verse, but the colorful cartoonish illustrations brimming with activity and good cheer (including some adorable anthropomorphized animals in the backgrounds) make up for the textual lapses and should motivate readers to embark on their own “wonder explorations.”

Handy advice for perpetually inquisitive children. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2025

ISBN: 9781400247417

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Tommy Nelson

Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
THE WORLD NEEDS WHO YOU WERE MADE TO BE
by Joanna Gaines ; illustrated by Julianna Swaney

bookshelf

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...

bookshelf

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)