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ON THE NIGHT OF THE SHOOTING STAR

Name: ON THE NIGHT OF THE SHOOTING STAR
Author: Amy Hest
ISBN: 978-0-7636-9154-7

by Amy Hest ; illustrated by Jenni Desmond ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 12, 2017

A gentle, empathetic tribute to the value of reaching out to welcome a new friend.

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Bunny and Dog live solitary, parallel lives in adjacent homes until their shared glimpse of a shooting star engenders a new and steadfast friendship.

Each tidy lakeside home, separated by a fence, is appointed with décor that reflects its inhabitant. Bunny’s house—blue, like her—contains such lapine accoutrements as rabbit-shaped salt-and-pepper shakers and a framed portrait of three carrots. Bunny ears pop up often: on the loft bed’s headboard, the lamp, and the cocoa cups. Sharp-eyed kids might notice the reading chair’s fluffy white “tail.” Dog’s abode is similarly cozy in his signature red, with a portable radio, a rug woven with a border of dogs, and a goodly supply of biscuits. As the animals engage in solo pursuits, from knitting (Dog) and drawing (Bunny) to cultivating twin gardens, they steal furtive glances at each other. Sleepless and outdoors on a moonlit night, each deduces that the other needs a friend. Their mutual, ephemeral experience—witnessing the shooting star—fuels their new relationship, as they share meals and pastimes together. Hest’s gentle subtext seems to say, “Life is short. Engage; connect.” Desmond’s mixed-media illustrations juxtapose simply rendered animals, charming household details, and lovely full-bleed expanses of starry sky and moonlit lake.

A gentle, empathetic tribute to the value of reaching out to welcome a new friend. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2017

ISBN: 978-0-7636-9154-7

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Candlewick

Review Posted Online: May 23, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2017

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
BIG BEAR AND LITTLE BEAR GO FISHING
by Amy Hest ; illustrated by Erin E. Stead

- BOOK REVIEW
BUNNY SHOULD BE SLEEPING
by Amy Hest ; illustrated by Renata Liwska

- BOOK REVIEW
JUST THE WAY THEY ARE
by Amy Hest ; illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton

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CARPENTER'S HELPER

by Sybil Rosen ; illustrated by Camille Garoche ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 16, 2021

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.

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A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.

Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: March 16, 2021

ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random

Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

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...

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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)