A quiet, tender, and profoundly moving celebration of intergenerational love.
This tale based on Scott’s boyhood experiences with his Polish grandmother traces the daily routines of a child and their beloved Baba.
In her first appearance, Baba is bathed in the sunlight streaming through her kitchen window, a bent Madonna in a sweater and slippers. She brings the young narrator a large bowl of oatmeal with pickles, cabbage, and beets before they walk to school, a jar at the ready to collect worms for Baba’s garden. Later, the child wonders why she does this, and Baba dips her finger into rainwater and traces the lines on the youngster’s hand. Author and illustrator allow readers to discern how communication occurs in the absence of a common spoken language—and what it means. The protagonist’s mother offers context when she relays that the garden and the presence of food in every nook and cranny result from earlier scarcity. Scott’s poetic sensibilities distill the days into meaningful moments and images, sometimes captured in similes: The woman “hums like a night full of bugs.” Smith’s warm gouache-and-watercolor scenes are filled with gentle gestures and connection. Later, when Baba moves in with the family, a wordless sequence—in which her grandchild brings her breakfast—is a beautifully crafted callback to the poignant ritual seen earlier in the story. Characters are tan-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A quiet, tender, and profoundly moving celebration of intergenerational love. (author’s note) (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 7, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-8234-5083-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Neal Porter/Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
Nice enough but not worth repeat reads.
Emma deals with jitters before playing the guitar in the school talent show.
Pop musician Kevin Jonas and his wife, Danielle, put performance at the center of their picture-book debut. When Emma is intimidated by her very talented friends, the encouragement of her younger sister, Bella, and the support of her family help her to shine her own light. The story is straightforward and the moral familiar: Draw strength from your family and within to overcome your fears. Employing the performance-anxiety trope that’s been written many times over, the book plods along predictably—there’s nothing really new or surprising here. Dawson’s full-color digital illustrations center a White-presenting family along with Emma’s three friends of color: Jamila has tanned skin and wears a hijab; Wendy has dark brown skin and Afro puffs; and Luis has medium brown skin. Emma’s expressive eyes and face are the real draw of the artwork—from worry to embarrassment to joy, it’s clear what she’s feeling. A standout double-page spread depicts Emma’s talent show performance, with a rainbow swirl of music erupting from an amp and Emma rocking a glam outfit and electric guitar. Overall, the book reads pretty plainly, buoyed largely by the artwork. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Nice enough but not worth repeat reads. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: March 29, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-35207-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
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