Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Over the course of an "outstandingly average" day, a child nevertheless finds myriad opportunities to celebrate accomplishments in this bright picture book from Funk and Alizadeh. Up-tempo rhymes frame attitude as a choice before launching into imperative suggestions ("Celebrate having ideas that spark,/ changing the universe, making your mark"). Acknowledging occasional challenges, cheerleading lines emphasize resilience and gratitude for each day's opportunities, while across sunny impressionistic illustrations, traditional materials and digital techniques layer cool coloring and texture. The result is an exhilarating, optimism-inspiring celebration of life's abundant possibilities. Characters are portrayed with brown skin and dark hair. Ages 3--6. (Mar.)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 3--This exuberant book is all about gratitude and celebration--not for big things, like birthdays and holidays, but for the ordinary wonderfulness of life. Using lyrical, rhyming text, this book extolls the virtues of small things: a few minutes alone, the beauty of the outdoors, and gratitude for the usual things that fill each day. The carefully chosen text offers some terrific teachable vocabulary words for young readers, like mundane and domain, amid more simple words: sniff and whiff. Highly graphic, vivid artwork shows a mom with tan skin and her two young children (one with tan skin, one with brown skin) engaged in their daily activities, including having lunch and painting and playing outside. The book would be an excellent mentor text for social-emotional learning goals like gratitude and appreciation or as a Thanksgiving story with a similar theme. VERDICT This wonderful book would be a solid addition to any library as a reminder for all ages to appreciate the small things.--Debbie Tanner
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A child learns to cherish each moment. A youngster with a mop of brown hair gathered into a topknot wakes to an ordinary day. Nothing is special; in fact, it's "outstandingly average." But what if, as the unseen narrator suggests, we find something to celebrate? Like that rainbow stretching across the sky or flowers that smell particularly wonderful. Or a butterfly flitting by. The day inspires the tot to create art. But when the wind blows the painting into a tree, the moment gives rise to an opportunity for gratitude. "Whenever you stumble or skid to a stop, // celebrate climbing back up to the top." (An accompanying image shows the child looking high into the tree.) Funk muses wisely--and widely--at times in an elevated tone: "Set a new course into nature's domain. / Step through the doorway to unknown terrain." But most offerings lean toward childlike wonder: "Sit for a moment and celebrate still… / sometimes the simplest things are a thrill." Alizadeh's sunny illustrations are full of light and movement, heightening the whimsy. The tot and a parent both are brown-skinned; a younger sibling is slightly darker-skinned. A welcome reminder that the natural world is full of tiny celebrations.(Picture book. 3-6) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
