A resonant child’s-eye view of grief—and hope.
A child grapples with loss.
A Black boy sits on his bedroom floor, holding his knees, looking bereft. Along with “a new haircut and suit for today,” he has a red cape hanging from his chest of drawers—an item of clothing also worn by the brown-skinned action figure next to him. As he walks downstairs, red cape billowing out behind him, he comments, “Got my cape…in case I remember.” After his auntie hugs him, a grayed-out parade of cars drives to the graveyard, where “We…place you by the stones.” During the funeral and the repast at the house, the mourners’ faces are indistinct or seen from behind, awash in grays or blues, representing the boy’s refusal to engage with them emotionally. Dynamic hues fill the pages as he imagines himself fighting off memories with his cape, soaring through space and diving deep under the water—before suddenly finding himself surrounded by joyful memories of a loving Black man, presumably his dad (an author’s note states that the story is rooted in Johnson’s childhood experience of losing his father). Thomas’ striking illustrations have a rounded softness, tempering the intensity though never sugarcoating it—this child’s rage, sadness, loneliness, and love are palpable. Johnson’s terse prose brims with emotion as the boy, amid his own mourning, covers his grieving auntie with the cape and promises, “I’ll never forget.” (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A resonant child’s-eye view of grief—and hope. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: June 20, 2023
ISBN: 9781250840509
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
SEEN & HEARD
From curds to riches, from meltdown to uplift—this multicourse romp delivers.
A winning wheel of cheddar with braggadocio to match narrates a tale of comeuppance and redemption.
From humble beginnings among kitchen curds living “quiet lives of pasteurization,” the Big Cheese longs to be the best and builds success and renown based on proven skills and dependable results: “I stuck to the things I was good at.” When newcomer Wedge moves to the village of Curds-on-Whey, the Cheese’s star status wobbles and falls. Turns out that quiet, modest Wedge is also multitalented. At the annual Cheese-cathlon, Wedge bests six-time winner Cheese in every event, from the footrace and chess to hat making and bread buttering. A disappointed Cheese throws a full-blown tantrum before arriving at a moment of truth: Self-calming, conscious breathing permits deep relief that losing—even badly—does not result in disaster. A debrief with Wedge “that wasn’t all about me” leads to further realizations: Losing builds empathy for others; obsession with winning obscures “the joy of participating.” The chastened cheddar learns to reserve bragging for lifting up friends, because anyone can be the Big Cheese. More didactic and less pun-rich than previous entries in the Food Group series, this outing nevertheless couples a cheerful refrain with pithy life lessons that hit home. Oswald’s detailed, comical illustrations continue to provide laughs, including a spot with Cheese onstage doing a “CHED” talk.
From curds to riches, from meltdown to uplift—this multicourse romp delivers. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9780063329508
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 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
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