I found this to be pretty mediocre, the writing being weaker than the art. It didn't really seem to land the point it was trying to make (at least for me).

Maya is a budding director with a perfectionist streak. Her desire for everything to be *just so* eventually leads to her friends helping her realize her bossiness is getting in the way of having fun. Beautiful illustrations.

RATING: 4 STARS
2021; Tundra Books/Penguin Random House Canada

Loved the third book in the Mile End kids series! I love the illustrations and stories by Arsenault and would try anything by her. In this series the children of Mile End are learning lessons with their friends.

***I received a complimentary copy of this ebook from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.***

Maya has invited her friends to put on a feminist play with her. She will run a queendom and they will all be equal. However, once they begin to get costumes and figure out their parts, the other kids realize there isn’t really equality for all in this play that features a queendom ruled by one person.

This story starts out with a great premise of the children creating a world with equality. They want everyone in the play to be equals. The problem with this comes up pretty quickly when Maya bosses them around. The other kids realize it isn’t an equal society if one person is in charge. This teaches them firsthand what an equal society would look like.

I loved the illustrations in this book. Most of them were black and white, with some of the costumes and props in colour. This highlighted the purples, reds, and pinks that Maya wanted them to wear in her queendom. I also liked that the children were playing in Maya’s backyard, but her neighbours’ yards were visible in the images too. This makes it more realistic, since there would be more houses beside her house in real life. It shows that there is life beyond the pages in the book.

This is a cute picture book!

Thank you Penguin Random House Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

We love it when we get to travel to Mile End and enjoy another story about the Mile End gang. This time we travel to the south side of Clark Ave to meet Maya. Maya’s a bit of a drama queen and is setting the stage for a big production.

Maya has a very type A personality and really wants to be in total control of the play. She is the queen after all. Many of her friends want to contribute ideas but Maya ends up talking over them to make sure her ideas are the ones being heard. After a while the other children have had enough and they remind Maya that she wants everyone to be equal in her queendom. They question if everyone can truly be equal if she is queen and ruling the play.

Isabelle Arsenault has created these beautiful stories about the Mile End children, all featuring different childhood scenarios in simple, two colour palettes. Just like Colette’s Lost Pet and Albert’s Quiet Quest, Maya’s Big Scene is written in graphic style and is an excellent introduction to the genre for younger readers.

Being a drama queen is a compliment, for Maya! In this third book in the ‘Mile End Kids Stories’ series, the neighbourhood kids have gathered in her backyard to play dress-up in a play about ‘freedom, equality, and respect for all’! But she thinks they need to rehearse more, first - you know, to get it perfect. Soon enough, she’s dubbed herself director and is commanding her queendom to do everything she says. What kind of equality is this, they ask? And how do they tell their bossy friend that she’s being too bossy? This adorable tale is a great way for kids to learn that stories are better when they include everyone’s voice! I love the beautifully expressive, softly hand-rendered illustrations: the pops of limited color are used here to illustrate the imaginative ‘play within a play’ so well - and their costumes will definitely make kids giggle.

I love Isabelle Arsenault’s illustrations and I really enjoyed leafing through her work as I read to my children. The dashes of pink amongst the grey penciled drawing is lovely, making the whole album a very nice object to own.
Maya’s Big Scene is a book about equality, tolerance, and the bossiness of a little girl who realises that what she is doing is going against what she says. It’s a perfect message for those little 4 to 8 years old tyrants we try to tame. And it helps them understand some pretty difficult concepts: what is freedom, equality, respect, and what does it have to do with them. With this book we can start explaining, and talk to their growing empathy about what they should and shouldn’t do to respect others and themselves.
A fantastic book.

A cute book with a very simple message. The art is fantastic and the color choice is very nice; I wish it had leaned a little less on very traditional sexist preferences (the guys not wanting to wear heels and pink.)

Unfortunately, the official NetGalley copy of this book does not work-- it has only the text with no images, which is obviously unacceptable for a picture book. I'm docking a point to bring this to the attention of NG and the publishers in hopes that they provide a working PDF next time. I was forced to read this on Adobe Digital Editions, which takes roughly thirty seconds to turn the page. No, really-- I was stuck reading this for about a full half hour because that's how slowly it loaded.

This was pretty disappointing. I liked the colors and the artwork, but the story left a lot to be desired. Yes, I understood the point, but it wasn't presented very well.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get the download to work! It looks like a PDF with all of the text and layouts, but without any artwork. I hope no one else has also had this problem!

First time reading something by this author and the artwork/illustrations were beautiful. I loved the color palette used. The story is quite cute about how Maya wants to put on the perfect show but she is a bit of a perfectionist and that leads to some controlling aspects, but she has her fellow friends who ground her so that they show is a success!
The formatting of the file was a bit off at times, but all in all a solid read.

A cute pink picture book about a diva whose power goes to her head when directing the local kids in a backyard play. She assumes the role of queen and espouses the fantastic qualities of freedom, equality, and respect that abound in her queendom. When a kid points out that by inhabiting the role of queen, she is not equal to the others, she graciously lays down her crown, at which point the children celebrate freedom.

**SPOILER ALERT!**

A children's story about a girl named Maya who wants to be a queen and wants everything to be perfect in her play. She tries to achieve this by bossing all her friends around and being super rude. Pretty artwork, but as far as the story goes, I don't feel like Maya really learned her lesson at the end. I guess I just wanted it to be a bit more thoughtful and explained a bit more.

‘Maya’s Big Scene’ by Isabelle Arsenault is a bold, beautifully illustrated picture book about a young playwright desperately trying to organize her latest work’s debut. Unfortunately, that requires her working with several other people, all of whom have their own thoughts and ideas they want to express. Aresenault’s gorgeous drawings help encapsulate why being selfish and uncompromising leads to disastrous outcomes. I would say great for strong preschool readers and most kindergarteners, as well as anyone who enjoys strong female leads.

A gorgeously drawn graphic novel with an interesting narrative, plot, and concepts. Definitely recommended for fans of this genre.

In her endeavor to put on a play about equality, one young girl learns the importance of truly practicing what you preach.

As I think we’ve all come to expect from Isabelle Arsenault, she’s yet again put together an adorable and straight-forward tale featuring the Mile End crew, this time as they all learn to respect one another’s voices in order to create a truly equitable community. Arsenault makes the pink part of the story, which is itself a fun detail (though boys complaining about pink in a story feels a bit passé for 2020), and all the different hues really make the illustrations pop.

All-in=all, a cute story to add to any picture book collection, particularly those that have the other two books in the Mile End series.

What a great tale of community, leadership, and being humble. I loved the story of the strong-headed Maya, who took it upon herself to put on a neighbourhood play. But when things don't go exactly as planned she steps up and commands everyone to do what she says. This book opens up conversations with kids on freedom of speech, respect, and working together.

Review will post on blog Oct 25, 2020.

I love the artwork in the book. The bright pinks and the illustrations are nice. I think the book has a message that could have been more fleshed out. The book resolves it's self too quickly. It felt a bit rushed. I liked that there was some kind of plan for the main character to notice something within themselves but I feel that it wouldn't have been resolved this quickly. I wished the explored that process more.

I requested and received this book from Isabelle Arsenault and Penguin Random House Canada through NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was a cute book about Maya who wants her play about equality to be perfect. While striving for perfection she ends up becoming a dictator herself and her friends are required to step up and let her know she is out of line. Overall, this book was good, the illustrations were bright and colourful, and it was fun watching Maya learn throughout the book.

Received an arc via Netgalley

Cute little picture book where Maya is the Queen in her play and begins taking on those traits in earnest. Cute book focusing on how to treat others equally.