by Jeanette Fazzari Jones ; illustrated by Jaclyn Sinquett ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 12, 2024
A sweet tale about the power of food, laced with meaningful lessons.
Can taste and smell help Grandpa recognize his grandchild?
“On the days we make meatballs for Grandpa, my feet fly up my grandparents’ driveway.” A double-page spread shows a child—auburn hair tied back in a ribbon, red-shoed feet sprinting houseward, loose shirt and green skirt flapping. Turning the page, readers learn that although Grandpa hugs Felicia, “sadness pokes through my smile when Grandpa looks at me without knowing who I am.” Grandma cheerfully tells Felicia not to worry: “Taste and smell are all we need.” She winks when Felicia asks whether Grandma is referring to meatballs or Grandpa. In the kitchen, Grandpa continues to look confused, even when reminded of his own nickname for Felicia. Felicia and Grandma prepare a pot with olive oil, garlic, and onion and let Grandpa pour in a can of tomatoes. Giggles ensue. Colorful, semirealistic art and an excellent layout complement the text, showing the trio happily engaged. Throughout, Felicia’s joy is intermittently punctuated by worry about Grandpa. The text continues its gentle humor and carefully chosen phrases—including some in (translated) Italian—until the table is set and all three sit down to a dinner of spaghetti and meatballs. Readers with relatives affected by dementia now have Grandma as a role model; all readers will feel closure from Grandpa’s breakthrough moment. Characters are light-skinned.
A sweet tale about the power of food, laced with meaningful lessons. (author’s note, recipe) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 12, 2024
ISBN: 9781662512049
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Two Lions
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
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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...
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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by Dev Petty ; illustrated by Lauren Eldridge ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 20, 2017
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted...
Reinvention is the name of the game for two blobs of clay.
A blue-eyed gray blob and a brown-eyed brown blob sit side by side, unsure as to what’s going to happen next. The gray anticipates an adventure, while the brown appears apprehensive. A pair of hands descends, and soon, amid a flurry of squishing and prodding and poking and sculpting, a handsome gray wolf and a stately brown owl emerge. The hands disappear, leaving the friends to their own devices. The owl is pleased, but the wolf convinces it that the best is yet to come. An ear pulled here and an extra eye placed there, and before you can shake a carving stick, a spurt of frenetic self-exploration—expressed as a tangled black scribble—reveals a succession of smug hybrid beasts. After all, the opportunity to become a “pig-e-phant” doesn’t come around every day. But the sound of approaching footsteps panics the pair of Picassos. How are they going to “fix [them]selves” on time? Soon a hippopotamus and peacock are staring bug-eyed at a returning pair of astonished hands. The creative naiveté of the “clay mates” is perfectly captured by Petty’s feisty, spot-on dialogue: “This was your idea…and it was a BAD one.” Eldridge’s endearing sculpted images are photographed against the stark white background of an artist’s work table to great effect.
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted fun of their own . (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 20, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-316-30311-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
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