by Aleksandra Kuburovic ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 19, 2015
The touching wartime account of a separated family and their joyful reunion.
A girl worries about her father and pet bird, trapped by war, in this touching debut picture book by Kuburovic, based on her own experiences as a child in Sarajevo.
When Sasha was a little girl staying at her grandmother’s house, she bought a small, blue budgie, even though she knew her father didn’t want a pet bird in the house. But after her father sees the bird, he relents, and Riki becomes part of their family. The pet bird learns to speak a few phrases, watches television with Sasha’s parents, and even waits on a chair in Sasha’s room for her to wake up every morning. But budgies don’t live as long as humans, and when Sasha is a teenager, Riki gets sick and dies. The family misses him so much that Sasha’s father buys her a new budgie, whom they name after the first one. Sasha has to leave home to go to college, and soon war breaks out in her hometown of Sarajevo. Although Sasha and her mother are able to escape to Valjevo with Sasha’s grandmother, Riki and Sasha’s father are stuck in Sarajevo. Sasha sends care packages of food and seed to her father, who, for two years, successfully keeps Riki alive despite cruel winters with no heat or electricity. When they are finally able to leave the city, Riki becomes one of the only pets—and almost certainly the only budgie!—to survive the war. Brightly colored illustrations bring Sasha and the budgies to life, although the major difference between Sasha as a small girl and Sasha as she grows older is the length of her hair (she wears it shorter as a college student). Kuburovic tells her story in a matter-of-fact tone, neither romanticizing nor downplaying the struggles of those stuck in Sarajevo during the war years. While the story is about the birds, children may well become interested in knowing more about Sasha’s home country and the war that kept her apart from her father. Children interested in history, especially independent readers in upper elementary school, will find that these elements provide an entry point that makes it easy to identify with the larger story.
The touching wartime account of a separated family and their joyful reunion.Pub Date: June 19, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-46-026200-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: Nov. 6, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Pete Seeger & Paul Dubois Jacobs & illustrated by Michael Hays ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2001
The seemingly ageless Seeger brings back his renowned giant for another go in a tuneful tale that, like the art, is a bit sketchy, but chockful of worthy messages. Faced with yearly floods and droughts since they’ve cut down all their trees, the townsfolk decide to build a dam—but the project is stymied by a boulder that is too huge to move. Call on Abiyoyo, suggests the granddaughter of the man with the magic wand, then just “Zoop Zoop” him away again. But the rock that Abiyoyo obligingly flings aside smashes the wand. How to avoid Abiyoyo’s destruction now? Sing the monster to sleep, then make it a peaceful, tree-planting member of the community, of course. Seeger sums it up in a postscript: “every community must learn to manage its giants.” Hays, who illustrated the original (1986), creates colorful, if unfinished-looking, scenes featuring a notably multicultural human cast and a towering Cubist fantasy of a giant. The song, based on a Xhosa lullaby, still has that hard-to-resist sing-along potential, and the themes of waging peace, collective action, and the benefits of sound ecological practices are presented in ways that children will both appreciate and enjoy. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-83271-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2001
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by Janice Boland & illustrated by G. Brian Karas ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1996
A book that will make young dog-owners smile in recognition and confirm dogless readers' worst suspicions about the mayhem caused by pets, even winsome ones. Sam, who bears passing resemblance to an affable golden retriever, is praised for fetching the family newspaper, and goes on to fetch every other newspaper on the block. In the next story, only the children love Sam's swimming; he is yelled at by lifeguards and fishermen alike when he splashes through every watering hole he can find. Finally, there is woe to the entire family when Sam is bored and lonely for one long night. Boland has an essential message, captured in both both story and illustrations of this Easy-to-Read: Kids and dogs belong together, especially when it's a fun-loving canine like Sam. An appealing tale. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-8037-1530-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1996
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