April 18, 2022
Featuring the characters and New Orleans setting of the HBO Max Cartoonito series of the same name, this book from DeGeneres and Michalka is more credo than story. As seven-year-old Little Ellen walks around her community sporting hair clips and a rainbow-festooned tee, she thinks about “what truly makes me me?” She realizes that it’s not what others may know as her signatures: her “cool dance moves” or the quirky thoughts that “zoom inside my mind.” Rather, it’s the way she loves and cares for others—“Who I am is about/ all of those I put first!” Though one vignette does find Ellen offering a sparkly hat to cheer a tearful friend, most of the fanciful digital images aren’t acts of kindness, but rather Ellen just hanging out with her gang (consisting of her Gramsy, children of varying skin tones, and a host of creatures), making for a slim, community-focused story. Ages 4–8.