Ms. Rachel and the Special Surprise. By Ms. Rachel (Rachel Anne Accurso). Illustrated by Monique Dong. Random House. $19.99.
The ongoing attempt to figure out where books fit in an increasingly digital universe continues to lead to a sort of cross-pollination between social-media personalities and authors of ink-on-paper works. These meldings work well at times, not so well at others – but books for very young children do seem to be a fertile field for the mixtures, allowing kids to have off-screen access to characters they have already met and become familiar with in digital-display environments. “Ms. Rachel,” a YouTube personality and educator best known for creating the charmingly titled “Songs for Littles” – a kids’ music series intended to foster language development among infants, toddlers, and preschoolers – turns out to work rather well as an on-paper character in Ms. Rachel and the Special Surprise, the first book of a planned series.
Unlike many children’s titles that leave it to adults to ferret out the educational purpose of the story, this book makes matters explicit in multiple ways. Its subtitle (or subhead, if you will) is “Encouraging Speech and Learning Through Play and Music,” so grown-ups know before even opening the book what it is supposed to do. The cover also displays a sticker-like design with the words “Practice 20 Milestones!” So the whole concept is built around specific goal-setting and knowledge attainment. And the last page of the book, aimed entirely at adults, is titled “Ms. Rachel’s Tips for Language and Brain Development!” Clearly more than a little thought has gone into figuring out the benefits that Ms. Rachel and the Special Surprise is intended to deliver.
Without appealing to very young children, though, the book will accomplish exactly nothing, so it is nice to find out that it works well simply as a pleasant experience for very young readers and pre-readers. Monique Dong’s engaging illustrations show the book version of Ms. Rachel searching through a large number of boxes in a hunt for “something really special,” opening box after box to find items that inspire songs and simple rhymes. The first box, for example, contains a model of a school bus, leading to a page with some words from the song, “The wheels on the bus.” But this is not the “special surprise,” so Ms. Rachel says goodbye to the bus and tries another box. The second one smells nice and contains a “pretend piece of bubble gum” – encouraging children to imagine what a real piece would be like and what a mess it would be to “blow a really big bubble” that then pops. This leads to some lyrics about “icky sticky sticky sticky bubble gum” and a continuing search for the “special surprise elsewhere.”
The book proceeds this way throughout, with boxes opening, Miss Rachel interacting with their contents and inviting readers to do so as well, Miss Rachel saying goodbye to every box’s contents, and Miss Rachel eventually teaching that when you cannot find what you are looking for, it is fine to ask for help – which she gets in the form of the Muppet-like Herbie. A few more false starts ensue, after which Miss Rachel and Herbie eventually “open” a box that is actually labeled “special surprise” and contains a mirror (a shiny, safe reflective design with protective film over it). So the special surprise turns out to be the smile of the child reading the book – and Miss Rachel and Herbie can say goodbye to that with a suitably upbeat final message.
Thankfully, the story progresses well on its own, and there is no attempt to force-feed the “20 milestones” referred to on the cover – although for anyone counting, the “Tips” page at the end includes, yes, 20 specific items that are packed into the book. The soft-pedaling of the educational/developmental elements – while making it possible for adults who are so inclined to locate them within the story and practice them in connection with the book or after reading it – makes this a neatly participatory offering that will appeal to young children and potentially be genuinely useful for them as well. So far, the usefulness record of books drawing on digital life is at best mixed: reading and watching are inherently different experiences, and a great deal of material works well in one form but not another. Ms. Rachel and the Special Surprise, however, is a genuinely thoughtful adaptation of informative entertainment from one realm to another, and as such could be the harbinger of a genuinely engaging series of value to kids and adults alike.
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