A general but timely overview of pandemic response.
A young girl imagines the different roles people have in a pandemic in this Chinese import.
While her doctor parents are away fighting “the virus,” the narrator spends her days under the care of her grandfather at home. To keep her entertained, Grandpa decides to introduce a game of pretend: Each day, she’ll pretend to be someone new. One day she is one of the many scientists “all over the world searching for a cure to beat the virus.” On another, she is a soldier delivering medical supplies. Through the game, she learns of the tough, brave roles people in the community play during a health crisis. While each day brings a new role to inhabit, bedtime is hard. Sometimes she can’t wait for what the next day will bring. Oftentimes, though, lips quiver, a nose tingles, and eyes dampen. But as Grandpa reassures, “It’s ok to be sad.” Soon, 14 days are up, and a masked Grandpa and granddaughter step outside. Isolation is over. Her next role will be that of a writer. And the task? To remember “all the wonderful people who have worked so hard to keep [them] safe.” Zhao’s quarantine narrative provides a primer of community helpers and first responders. Her text also highlights the emotional toll it takes on these individuals as well as the uncertainty both Grandpa and the girl feel. Huang’s illustrations bring the more playful imagery to life: A magician breathes fire, killing germs; a delivery person is adorned with fairy wings. Both Grandpa and narrator have pale skin, and the girl wears her straight, black hair in pigtails; they eat with chopsticks.
A general but timely overview of pandemic response. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-64074-121-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Cardinal Media
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
Echoes of Runaway Bunny color this exchange between a bath-averse piglet and his patient mother. Using a strategy that would probably be a nonstarter in real life, the mother deflects her stubborn offspring’s string of bath-free occupational conceits with appeals to reason: “Pirates NEVER EVER take baths!” “Pirates don’t get seasick either. But you do.” “Yeesh. I’m an astronaut, okay?” “Well, it is hard to bathe in zero gravity. It’s hard to poop and pee in zero gravity too!” And so on, until Mom’s enticing promise of treasure in the deep sea persuades her little Treasure Hunter to take a dive. Chunky figures surrounded by lots of bright white space in Segal’s minimally detailed watercolors keep the visuals as simple as the plotline. The language isn’t quite as basic, though, and as it rendered entirely in dialogue—Mother Pig’s lines are italicized—adult readers will have to work hard at their vocal characterizations for it to make any sense. Moreover, younger audiences (any audiences, come to that) may wonder what the piggy’s watery closing “EUREKA!!!” is all about too. Not particularly persuasive, but this might coax a few young porkers to get their trotters into the tub. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: March 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25425-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Sweet but misleading.
A plucky child becomes a space traveler.
Arceneaux was the first pediatric cancer survivor and the first with a prosthetic body part to become an astronaut, part of the first all-civilian space mission in 2021. The author, who in 2022 published the adult memoir Wild Ride and its 2023 adaptation for middle-grade readers, here shares her story with an even younger audience. Told in the third person, the narrative emphasizes the bravery she summoned as she coped with a cancer that left her with a prosthetic leg bone and knee (hinted at with an incision line in one illustration) and went on to become a space traveler. Curiously, Hayley and her astronaut colleagues are portrayed as children. They play with a “stuffed toy alien,” and in an imagined episode, Hayley ventures outside the spacecraft to perform a repair. Accompanied by softly hued illustrations with character designs that recall Precious Moments figurines, the narrative emphasizes familiar details of space travel that will appeal to children; both their bodies and their food float in zero gravity. The mission splashes down safely, and Hayley rushes to hug her mom. Though Arceneaux was the youngest astronaut to have orbited the Earth, she was an adult when she did so. The odd choice to depict her as a child reduces her compelling story to a fantasy. Arceneaux is white; other characters are diverse.
Sweet but misleading. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Feb. 18, 2025
ISBN: 9780593443903
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Convergent
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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