Category: Picture Books

Flash Review: The Proudest Blue by Ibtihaj Muhammad & S.K. Ali, illustrated by Hatem Aly

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By Maureen Tai, 11 April 2021

Olympic medallist Ibtihaj Muhammad and S.K. Ali have created a boldly empowering picture book (ages 5+) about a Muslim girl’s unshakeable faith and her loving relationship with her older sister, Asiya, who wears an ocean-blue hijab on the first day of school. As the day progresses, Faizah becomes anxious as several children show their prejudices with hurtful words and actions. The sisters’ strength of character, tempered by their mother’s wisdom, prevails gloriously in the end. The gorgeous, lyrical text in The Proudest Blue, accompanied by Hatem Aly’s sweeping, vibrant spreads will inspire pride in everything that makes us unique, including our faiths.

NOTE: Thank you for reading my reviews! I’ll never take this website down, but in the interests of streamlining, from 1 January 2025, I’ll be posting new reviews on my writer website, www.maureentai.com, where I post lots of other bookish extras. See you there!

Flash Review: My Friend is Sad by Mo Willems

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By Maureen Tai, 4 April 2021

My Friend is Sad (ages 2 +) is another funny, engaging and endearing instalment in Mo Willems’ Elephant & Piggie series of easy-readers. Stodgy, bespectacled Elephant is sad. His best friend, quirky, quick-thinking Piggie, decides to dress up as a cowboy, then a clown and finally a robot to cheer him up. Piggie’s plans fail, but not for reasons you’d expect! Deceptively simple, comic-like pictures perfectly convey the two friends’ distinct, yet complementary, personalities and wild swings of emotions while the large-sized speech-bubbled text will encourage younger readers to try their hand at reading independently. This hilarious story will tickle readers of all ages.

NOTE: Thank you for reading my reviews! I’ll never take this website down, but in the interests of streamlining, from 1 January 2025, I’ll be posting new reviews on my writer website, www.maureentai.com, where I post lots of other bookish extras. See you there!

Flash Review: This is Hong Kong by M. Sasek

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By Maureen Tai, 28 March 2021

Turning the pages of M. Sasek’s classic This is Hong Kong (ages 5+) with its evocative, detailed illustrations, is like stepping into history, to a time when the city’s streets were teeming: with rickshaws, hawkers and labourers carrying dried fish, silks or bricks on the end of bamboo poles, stylishly-coiffed ladies in cheongsams, and tourists seeking all manner of exotic goods. While some landmarks – notably the Tiger Balm Garden and Kai Tak Airport – and some sights – floating schools, traffic controllers in gazebos – no longer exist, Sasek’s pictorial ode to Hong Kong is enchanting for readers of all ages.

NOTE: Thank you for reading my reviews! I’ll never take this website down, but in the interests of streamlining, from 1 January 2025, I’ll be posting new reviews on my writer website, www.maureentai.com, where I post lots of other bookish extras. See you there!

Flash Review: Ocean Meets Sky by The Fan Brothers

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By Maureen Tai, 21 March 2021

In The Fan Brothers’ dreamy picture book Ocean Meets Sky (ages 5+), a Chinese boy named Finn honours his late grandfather by building a boat out of scrap wood and sea junk. After a nap, he embarks on a magical journey, looking for the place his grandfather told him about, where ocean meets sky. Aided by a gargantuan, moustached golden fish, Finn visits fantastical lands, encountering mystical creatures of the sea and of the sky, all gorgeously illustrated in breath-taking, blue-toned spreads. Finn’s story gently suggests that memories can keep a person alive, and that the imagination has the power to heal. (100 words).

NOTE: Thank you for reading my reviews! I’ll never take this website down, but in the interests of streamlining, from 1 January 2025, I’ll be posting new reviews on my writer website, www.maureentai.com, where I post lots of other bookish extras. See you there!