Another perky pink easy reader sure to delight Pinkaholics.
Our popular, pink-loving protagonist promotes reading skills and persistently pursues reading pleasures.
Seeing Pinkalicious with her nose in a book, schoolmate Jade is incredulous: “Are you reading AGAIN?” Pinkalicious admits that reading was hard to learn, “but now it’s pinkamazingly fun!” On the bus, in bed, eating, or walking, she reads. At home there is nary a screen in sight, and she looks up from her book at dinner only when Dad fears he has forgotten her face. But Pinkalicious falls into a bibliophile’s nightmare: She “has read every book at least twice!” Desperate, she tries reading catalogs, cereal boxes, and recipes: arid narrative deserts. Brother Peter casually comments, “Too bad you can’t trade yours for new ones.” Bingo: Pinkalicious promptly mounts her book-filled dollhouse on a pedestal outdoors and publicizes her free lending library. (Encountering no pesky zoning code or HOA obstacles.) That night, too excited to sleep, Pinkalicious finds her old books gone, replaced by new-to-her books. The whole pale-faced Pinkerton family reads through breakfast, with predictably messy consequences. Illustrations hew to the series’ formula, as does the text: problem develops; problem grows more complex; creative solution found by our hero. The advocacy of reading makes this pleasant new entry particularly palatable. Jade presents Asian; Pinkalicious’ community is diverse.
Another perky pink easy reader sure to delight Pinkaholics. (Beginning reader. 4-8)Pub Date: June 27, 2023
ISBN: 9780063257320
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2023
Being kind and helpful lights up the day from within in this inspiring and idyllic slice-of-life tale.
Actor, social media star, and entrepreneur Brown pens a joyful paean to positive thinking in her children’s debut.
Brown-skinned Tab rides a strawberry-themed bike, accompanied by a curly-haired black dog, Grady. Tab’s dazzling smile and wide eyes signal the upbeat theme echoed in the text, celebrating the sun’s warmth, which “fills everyone up with joy.” But Tab’s mood shifts, as it’s a “cloudy and gray” June day. Alert readers will spot the dog’s smiling countenance and note glimpses of sunny yellow butterflies and flowers. Mama’s reassurance that there’s “always a chance” for sunshine also underscores the optimism. Tab and Grady bike through suburban streets “to find the sun.” Along the way, the two stop to assist a neighbor building a birdhouse, loft a kite for friends Frankie and Fonte, and lend a hand to others, all while still having fun. Mama steers Tab toward an eventual understanding of the real source of joy: Though the sun didn’t appear, “I brightened everyone’s day!” The illustrations subtly underscore the message of this radiant story as touches of gold lighten the palette, which ends with sunny brilliance. Most characters read Black, though Tab’s community includes people who vary in skin tone, body type, and ability.
Being kind and helpful lights up the day from within in this inspiring and idyllic slice-of-life tale. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 11, 2025
ISBN: 9780063342262
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 21, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2025
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
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