A sweet story with an important message that goes down easily.
“Leeeet’s get ready to crumble!”
Cake is an amazing friend—“eggs-traordinary” and “one in a melon,” as the other foods put it. No one measures up to Cake. Until Pie moves in. Pie, a joker, is “warm and open” (literally—check out their lattice top crust). Cake and Pie become friends, and in no time everyone loves Pie, but Cake realizes that Pie craves attention. Soon Pie becomes the flavor of every month. Feeling “desserted,” Cake challenges Pie to a Food Fight. Before stepping into the ring with Pie, Cake asks Danish, Waffle, Brownie, and others for a makeover. They have lots of suggestions—maybe Cake should be Carrot Cake or Coffee Cake? In the end, Danish says, “Just be yourself,” and Cake agrees…though they decide to add a few layers and embellishments. But when Cake and Pie enter the ring, Cake’s tiers topple onto Pie. Soon another type of food fight ensues as the onlookers begin hurling whipped cream, sauce, and more at one another. Cake regrets their jealousy, and Pie admits they should have swallowed their pride. Together, they pick up the pieces and put things right. Bardhan-Quallen leans heavily on the food puns, but she also offers a sound lesson about compromise and the art of friendship. Stilwell’s delightfully expressive cartoons depict cookies, popsicles, strawberries, and more, all with round eyes and stick-figure limbs. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A sweet story with an important message that goes down easily. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: June 27, 2023
ISBN: 9780358555605
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023
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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