bookshelf

I'M A GLUTEN-SNIFFING SERVICE DOG

Name: I'M A GLUTEN-SNIFFING SERVICE DOG
Author: Michal Babay
ISBN: 978-0-8075-3631-5

by Michal Babay ; illustrated by Ela Smietanka ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2021

This good-hearted book makes a serious subject fun and interesting.

bookshelf

A well-trained service dog can be a loyal friend as well as a lifesaver.

Chewie the blue poodle already has his person picked out. “Every dog needs a person, and Alice is mine. Almost.” Chewie just has to brush up on a few details of his training and learn to hold his natural doggy exuberance in check. He is learning a highly specialized skill: the ability to detect minute quantities of gluten in foods so he can alert his owner of its presence. This ability will protect Alice, a young White girl who has celiac disease and gets sick if she ingests even a tiny amount of gluten, which is found in certain grains. Training is hard. There are so many distractions for a young dog: a bug, a bird, another dog—not to mention actual food on the ground. A visit from a distraught Alice persuades Chewie to stay as focused as he can in order to graduate from training school. Finally they can be together and Alice can feel safe. Based on the author’s experience with her daughter, who has celiac, the story is told in first person by Chewie. His bouncy narration is punctuated with excited statements in a large, italicized font to indicate both the distractions he encounters and his resolve to avoid them. It’s illustrated in a lively, colorful, cartoonish style, with diversity well represented among the trainers and Alice’s classmates.

This good-hearted book makes a serious subject fun and interesting. (author’s note, further information) (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: April 1, 2021

ISBN: 978-0-8075-3631-5

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Whitman

Review Posted Online: March 1, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S HEALTH & DAILY LIVING

- BOOK REVIEW
ON FRIDAY AFTERNOON
by Michal Babay ; illustrated by Menahem Halberstadt

- BOOK REVIEW
THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING LUNCHROOM
by Michal Babay ; illustrated by Paula Cohen

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)

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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
ON THE FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

- BOOK REVIEW
FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

bookshelf

THE BIG CHEESE

From the Food Group series

by Jory John ; illustrated by Pete Oswald ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 7, 2023

From curds to riches, from meltdown to uplift—this multicourse romp delivers.

bookshelf

A winning wheel of cheddar with braggadocio to match narrates a tale of comeuppance and redemption.

From humble beginnings among kitchen curds living “quiet lives of pasteurization,” the Big Cheese longs to be the best and builds success and renown based on proven skills and dependable results: “I stuck to the things I was good at.” When newcomer Wedge moves to the village of Curds-on-Whey, the Cheese’s star status wobbles and falls. Turns out that quiet, modest Wedge is also multitalented. At the annual Cheese-cathlon, Wedge bests six-time winner Cheese in every event, from the footrace and chess to hat making and bread buttering. A disappointed Cheese throws a full-blown tantrum before arriving at a moment of truth: Self-calming, conscious breathing permits deep relief that losing—even badly—does not result in disaster. A debrief with Wedge “that wasn’t all about me” leads to further realizations: Losing builds empathy for others; obsession with winning obscures “the joy of participating.” The chastened cheddar learns to reserve bragging for lifting up friends, because anyone can be the Big Cheese. More didactic and less pun-rich than previous entries in the Food Group series, this outing nevertheless couples a cheerful refrain with pithy life lessons that hit home. Oswald’s detailed, comical illustrations continue to provide laughs, including a spot with Cheese onstage doing a “CHED” talk.

From curds to riches, from meltdown to uplift—this multicourse romp delivers. (Picture book. 4-8)