BOOK REVIEW
With school set to resume soon, Julie Chessman reviews three children’s books.
On the First Day of Kindergarten by Tish Rabe and illustrated by Laura Hughes is a picture book for children aged four to seven.
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 and going on a field trip.
Days are given numbers to give order and sequence, the songs are lyrical yet in the verses, the rhythm is sometimes off.
There is 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 bland treatment it gets the job done.
Will’s Race for Home by Jewell Parker Rhodes, with illustrations by Olga Ivanov and Aleksey Ivanov, is historical fiction for ages eight to 12.
It is an exciting gallop through real history with little-known heroes taking the lead.
Twelve-year-old William Samuels sets out on the 1889 Oklahoma Land Rush with his father and their faithful mule, Belle.
One evening in 1888, Will’s father, who was formerly enslaved, comes home late with news that changes the family’s lives forever.
He is carrying a flyer announcing a land rush more than 400 miles away from where they live as sharecroppers in Texas.
This opportunity means they could build property on land that belongs only to them, land that Will could inherit just like the sons of the white men they work for.
They make plans for Will and Father to set off on the trek together, but nothing can truly prepare Will for what’s to come, from the gruelling wilderness terrain to the dangerous people and deadly snakes they meet.
The short chapters make this fast-paced and eventful ride through the West an accessible and engaging read.
Gather by Kenneth M. Cadow is fiction for 13-18 year olds.
It is a heartfelt novel about the challenges of youth and the value of community.
The story opens with Ian Gray’s Aunt Terry bustling around the house in anticipation of his mum’s return home from the hospital, just a week before Thanksgiving.
In bits and pieces, readers learn that Mum struggles with addiction.
Through this and all the next challenges Ian faces, a stray dog who has wandered out of the woods adjoining his backyard becomes his anchor and steady best friend; he names the large, galumphing stray Gather.
Between school, family, and friends, Ian’s world is heavily populated.
Cadow’s debut novel portrays a challenging coming-of-age in rural Vermont with warmth, humour, and insight.
Ian sees the turmoil that surrounds him with bewilderment and deadpan humour.
Cadow captures Ian’s engaging naïveté, which is tempered by a survivor’s unflappability and a blossoming sense of irony.
The novel has the flavour of a collection of linked stories, boosted by snappy chapter titles such as What You Come Across and What You Do with It.
Julie Chessman
This post was originally published on here
