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NO ORDINARY JACKET

Name: NO ORDINARY JACKET
Author: Sue-Ellen Pashley
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0966-2

by Sue-Ellen Pashley ; illustrated by Thea Baker ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 11, 2020

Snug and enchanting.

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A special jacket flourishes in a family over time.

It arrives in shiny, metallic gift wrap. The jacket has a rich, multicolored pattern in a nubbly, carpety texture and a white collar and cuffs like fleece or sheepskin. It has “four dazzling buttons down the front.” Amelia immediately nuzzles it to her face, then proceeds to wear it everywhere—preschool, the park, bed—until the sad day it no longer fits. Now it’s little sister Lilly’s turn. Lilly, too, wears it everywhere: the library, the swingset, even—despite its warmth—the beach. Eventually Lilly outgrows it, and the family cat blissfully has kittens on it. When it’s old, a bit worn, and a bit dirty, Mom remakes it into a teddy bear. The jacket seems to shift somewhat in size, which requires a small suspension of disbelief—no problem—but why does Mom make the jacket into a bear rather than passing it down as a garment to the youngest (third) sibling? (Surely not because the youngest sibling, short-haired, might be intended as a boy and the jacket is festive, even perhaps feminine?) This question, while baffling, doesn’t override Pashley’s toasty-warm story and Baker’s captivating collaged layers of fabrics, papers, and textures. Amelia has light brown skin and straight black hair; Lilly has similar skin and corkscrew blonde curls; the toddler sibling has straight, straw-colored hair; and Mom has brown skin and wears her black hair in a bun.

Snug and enchanting. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: Aug. 11, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-5362-0966-2

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Candlewick

Review Posted Online: May 2, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2020

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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CARPENTER'S HELPER

by Sybil Rosen ; illustrated by Camille Garoche ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 16, 2021

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.

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A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.

Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: March 16, 2021

ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random

Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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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...

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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)