Quick Kids Reviews #1

Title: Goodnight Krampus
Author: Kyle Sullivan
Illustrator: Derek Sullivan
Source: Free ARC from Hazy Dell Press

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ 1/2

Note: As stated under the Source (above), I received this book for free from Hazy Dell Press via Edelweiss. I pride myself on writing fair and honest reviews.

As is almost always the case with children’s books (ok, pretty much all books that I end up reading), the cover of Goodnight Krampus grabbed my attention straightaway. If the cover hadn’t sealed the deal, the mention of Krampus certainly did. One of my children was rather obsessed with Krampus last holiday season, so there was absolutely no way I wasn’treading this book.

Illustrations are just so important in books for young children, and I found this picture book to be especially well done in that regard. In addition to the wonderful artwork and the mischievous Krampus, there were narwhals and yeti, more quirky favorites of my children (and mine!). And the story is pretty cute. Krampus can’t sleep because he’s excited about Christmas morning, so he’s running around creating a raucous, until Santa reminds him that he can’t deliver his presents until he goes to sleep. The perfect bedtime read for kiddos who have the same struggle on Christmas Eve.

Title: Someday is Now
Author: Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich
Illustrator: Jade Johnson
Source: Free ARC from Seagrass Press

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Note: As stated under the Source (above), I received this book for free from Seagrass Press via Edelweiss. I pride myself on writing fair and honest reviews.

Someday is Now is a children’s book about the life of Clara Luper, a young black woman from Oklahoma City who would unwittingly spark a string of lunch counter sit-ins that would help to break up segregation in the South. As a little girl, Clara dreamed of the day when segregation would be no more, when she could fully participate in society the way that white folks could. As an adult, she pursued her education and became a teacher that empowered and encouraged her students to actively, but nonviolently, assert their rights. After a class trip to the desegregated North, her students were further impassioned to take action, and after trying other avenues and failing, opted to sit-in at a lunch counter, ordering and refusing to go outside as was expected. Instead, they sat in the Whites Only section, despite being yelled at, called horrible names, even having food thrown at them. They stayed and studied and returned the next day. And the next. And the next. Until the business owner finally broke down and made all of his locations fully accessible to people of all colors. Clara and her students then moved onto the next business, and the next, for years, making strides towards desegregation one business at a time, and inspiring others to do the same.

What a powerful story about the power of nonviolent activism, as well as the power that even the smallest of us have to change the world. While I wasn’t crazy about the illustrations (usually an important factor for me when it comes to children’s books), the history and the message in this book are priceless. I’m very much looking forward to reading it with my children.

Title: Birds of a Feather
Author: Vanita Oelschlager
Illustrator: Robin Hegan
Source: Free ARC from Vanita Books

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ 1/2

Note: As stated under the Source (above), I received this book for free from Vanita Books via NetGalley. I pride myself on writing fair and honest reviews.

Birds of a Feather introduces children to the concept of idioms in a very simple and straightforward way. For each idiom, there is a large and colorful illustration demonstrating what one might thinkthe phrase means based on the individual words (for “barking up the wrong tree” there is an image of a dog barking up one tree, while the cat he is chasing resides at the top of the tree just behind him), followed by the actual meaning of the idiom and the phrase used in a sentence.

It’s a very quick read and the illustrations are a lot of fun. My children just learned about idioms last year, in 1stgrade, and my son has been inserting idioms into his speech ever since (and then informing me that he has just used an idiom, and what an idiom is). When I saw this book was available, I gravitated towards it for that exact reason. Two of my kiddos read it with me the second time around and they giggled at several of the illustrations, and both agreed that it was a good way to explain idioms to kids who might find them confusing.

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