Maxine’s Critters Get the Vaccine Jitters by Jan Zauzmer is a particularly timely story. Maxine lines up all her stuffed animals for their vaccinations, and then heads to her doctor for hers. The rhyme scheme is simple (with a few misses for me, but mostly solid), the illustrations by Corlette Douglas are noisy, creative and fun, and the pro-vaccine message is on point, especially as under-fives can finally get in line too. Understanding that it’s necessary, but also a little scary is something that kids need to see represented someplace: We’re asking so much of them, the least we can do is explain that everybody gets nervous before shots, let them see how others cope with it. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again, but children’s books do some heavy lifting, and pandemic times call for as many careful explanations of what vaccines are and the important work they do to keep us all safe as we can get. 4 Stars.
(I received my copy from NetGalley for an honest review)
