A validating, encouraging voice for kids with school-related anxiety.
Henson’s picture book highlights the stresses and benefits of school.
A little girl with auburn hair in a bun, light-colored skin, carrying a schoolbag sits on the school bus fuming: “It repeats EVERY SINGLE DAY! I can think of a million things that don’t have to go to school—so why do we? I don’t want to go to school!” The little, unnamed girl cycles through a list of things that make her anxious about formal education and a few things that avoid such travails. Birds don’t have to put up with bullies, so why should she? Sandcastles don’t have to stand in front of the class and talk, and sunflowers don’t have to take tests and know all the answers. On the other hand, the child reasons, sandcastles “crumble under waves of pressure. The tide washes away their foundations. By going to school, I won’t let an ocean of tears bring me down.” Tran’s watercolor illustrations capture the protagonist’s feelings of nervousness, fear, and confusion, as well as resilience. The prose is poetic at times and avoids condescension, for example, “Fledglings emerge from cracked shells, teach themselves skills to survive” and “Magical masterpieces on the beach mesmerize awe-struck onlookers.” The author shows the very real stressors of school and intersperses these with fun moments of escapism and fantasy, as well as determination, before underscoring the inspiring benefits of education.
A validating, encouraging voice for kids with school-related anxiety.Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9781738219315
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Tielmour Press
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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