It’s swing, hit, and no miss with this rip-roaring charmer.
How far can YOU go?
Vern loves the playground swings, but he usually sits, letting the chains twist and spin him around, or lies stomach-first on the seat. He can’t soar like the other kids. When other children taunt him, he contorts his body in vain, ordering his legs to pump. Then a girl named Gretchen asks if he wants to learn. He painstakingly follows her instructions, and she stays with Vern, not letting him quit, until she finally must leave. Though tempted to give up, Vern persists—and then…he PUMPS, touches the sky, and joins the birds! Earthbound again, Vern hears a small boy wistfully tell him he wishes he could pump. Guess who’s the expert now? Aiming skyward on a swing is, of course, a metaphor for attempting to reach any goal; the reassuring message in this dynamic, fast-paced tale: Don’t quit, keep trying, and you’ll succeed. Throughout, Lucianovic demonstrates a keen, child-friendly understanding of what it’s like to master a new skill: “It feels hard until you get it, and then it’s not.” The energetic, loosely drawn mixed-media illustrations zing with color. Amid all this fun, characters’ hair and skin shades are fancifully depicted, though hair textures suggest that some characters might be people of color. Creative typesetting wizardry, with words and action lines “swinging” everywhere, emphasize the action. Swing by the zesty endpapers.
It’s swing, hit, and no miss with this rip-roaring charmer. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: May 7, 2024
ISBN: 9781728460451
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Carolrhoda
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2024
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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