Yay!

Via emphatic lines that celebrate the everyday efforts fueling accomplishments big and small, Kulekjian and González Hoang cheer readers on in this jubilant picture book. Artwork--a clean-edged naif mix of colored pencil, gouache, and digital techniques--adds a narrative element through lively depictions of kids putting themselves out there. On one page, a child using forearm crutches hikes with a caregiver: "When extra steps/ add up to extra miles/ and nothing stops you.// YAY!" Elsewhere, two youths wearing lab coats handle colored liquids in a chemistry flask, resulting in a rainbow explosion: "Always, there are surprises.// YAY!" While many of the featured activities involve physical movement, inclusion of a board game touches on winning and losing, a baking scene gestures toward experimentation, and opening and closing moments embrace academic firsts and lasts. Poised to offer big encouragement, the creators' rallying takeaway resounds: YAY! Characters are portrayed with various abilities, body types, and skin tones. Ages 3--6. (Apr.)

An exuberant celebration of all things "yay!" This picture book is one to be read again and again--at storytime, at home, at kindergarten or preschool graduations, and whenever children need encouragement or simply want to toot their own horns. Kulekjian's joyful, affirming words beg to be read aloud but are also suitable for independent reading; youngsters will cheer for their reading successes with "Yays" of their own. Hoang's playful, vibrant illustrations build on the text's open-ended statements about trying hard, triumphing, and learning from failure. She depicts specific scenarios with a cast of characters diverse in terms of race, ability, and body type. A spread that reads "Sometimes you win" and "Sometimes you learn" on facing pages depicts a pair of children enjoying cupcakes while surrounded by baking ingredients and materials; the kids turn a queasy green on the following page after eating from a less successful batch of homemade cookies. Other scenes show children starting school, dancing ballet, climbing mountains, playing board games, running races, playing on a jungle gym, engaging in science experiments, and wearing robes and mortarboards for a graduation. What else is there to say? Yay!(Picture book. 2-6) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.