bookshelf

PENNY & PIP

Name: PENNY & PIP
Author: Candace Fleming
ISBN: 9781665913317

by Candace Fleming ; illustrated by Eric Rohmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 13, 2023

A warm and welcoming ode to creativity and friendship.

bookshelf

What is hatching in the museum?

Penny is a sensible, curious, and very observant young brown-skinned girl who finds an unexpected surprise while on a school trip to a natural history museum. She is the only one who notices a mysterious egg, which dramatically cracks open to reveal…a small green baby dinosaur! Penny decides to name the long-necked, long-tailed creature Pip (after his squeaks), and when she realizes she can’t possibly leave him behind, she devises a clever plan that she hopes will ensure his escape and enable her to bring him home. Deceptively simple and very appealing illustrations with just the right amount of detail partner perfectly with the gentle humor and suspense of the straightforward yet graceful text. Visible pencil strokes give the art an intimate, tender feel. Use of white space and perspective is effective; seen next to the hulking dino skeletons, Pip cuts an especially vulnerable and endearing figure. Young readers and listeners are sure to appreciate Penny and Pip’s predicament, cheer them on from start to finish, and return to this story again and again. As our young heroes walk through the museum and into the future, one can only hope that more tales of this charming duo are soon to come! (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A warm and welcoming ode to creativity and friendship. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: June 13, 2023

ISBN: 9781665913317

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Caitlyn Dlouhy/Atheneum

Review Posted Online: April 11, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S DINOSAURS & PREHISTORIC CREATURES | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
THE ENIGMA GIRLS
by Candace Fleming

- BOOK REVIEW
MINE!
by Candace Fleming ; illustrated by Eric Rohmann

- BOOK REVIEW
POLAR BEAR
by Candace Fleming ; illustrated by Eric Rohmann

bookshelf

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.

bookshelf

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

bookshelf

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...

bookshelf

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)