A whimsical ode to prolific natural artists.
An especially artistic child seeks and finds his peers.
Sketch is born, well, sketchy. He’s scruffy, like a drawing’s first draft. He spends his formative years at home, exploring his world under the guidance of his loving parents. But his town prizes conformity and order, and at school, most of his teachers look askance at his unorthodox handwriting and his active imagination. Sketch finds solace in the art room, where the teacher reassures him that his art is vitally important. Often lonely but always devoted to his craft, Sketch enters high school and draws strength from his bonds with other young artists: a muselike dancer named Flow, a shadowy silhouette called Muddy, and Doodle, an amorphous adolescent made up of squiggles. Sketch’s story celebrates the artist’s journey: a deep-seated urge to create that starts early and supersedes other pursuits, and the world’s need for that gift. Arguing that the creative drive is a talent that only grows greater when lovingly nurtured, this Canadian import, translated from French, will appeal to a broader age range than its picture-book format might suggest. Also making the case for wider readership are candid moments depicting childbirth, newborn Sketch’s nudity, and urination. Goldstyn’s characters’ nervy energy, especially Sketch's, feels happily indebted to René Goscinny and Jean-Jacques Sempé’s endlessly playful Le Petit Nicolas. Sketch has paper-white skin; other characters vary in skin tone.
A whimsical ode to prolific natural artists. (Picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9781778402777
Page Count: 88
Publisher: Greystone Kids
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
A kind child in a book for middle-grade readers? There’s no downside to that.
Beatrice Zinker is a kinder, gentler Judy Moody.
Beatrice doesn’t want to be fit in a box. Her first word was “WOW,” not “Mom.” She does her best thinking upside down and prefers to dress like a ninja. Like Judy Moody, she has patient parents and a somewhat annoying younger brother. (She also has a perfectly ordinary older sister.) Beatrice spends all summer planning a top-secret spy operation complete with secret codes and a secret language (pig Latin). But on the first day of third grade, her best friend, Lenny (short for Eleanor), shows up in a dress, with a new friend who wants to play veterinarian at recess. Beatrice, essentially a kind if somewhat quirky kid, struggles to see the upside of the situation and ends up with two friends instead of one. Line drawings on almost every spread add to the humor and make the book accessible to readers who might otherwise balk at its 160 pages. Thankfully, the rhymes in the text do not continue past the first chapter. Children will enjoy the frequent puns and Beatrice’s preference for climbing trees and hanging upside down. The story drifts dangerously close to pedantry when Beatrice asks for advice from a grandmotherly neighbor but is saved by likable characters and upside-down cake. Beatrice seems to be white; Lenny’s surname, Santos, suggests that she may be Latina; their school is a diverse one.
A kind child in a book for middle-grade readers? There’s no downside to that. (Fiction. 6-10)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4847-6738-2
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.
How to raise money for a coveted poster: put your friends to work!
John, founder of the FUBU fashion line and a Shark Tank venture capitalist, offers a self-referential blueprint for financial success. Having only half of the $10 he needs for a Minka J poster, Daymond forks over $1 to buy a plain T-shirt, paints a picture of the pop star on it, sells it for $5, and uses all of his cash to buy nine more shirts. Then he recruits three friends to decorate them with his design and help sell them for an unspecified amount (from a conveniently free and empty street-fair booth) until they’re gone. The enterprising entrepreneur reimburses himself for the shirts and splits the remaining proceeds, which leaves him with enough for that poster as well as a “brand-new business book,” while his friends express other fiscal strategies: saving their share, spending it all on new art supplies, or donating part and buying a (math) book with the rest. (In a closing summation, the author also suggests investing in stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrency.) Though Miles cranks up the visual energy in her sparsely detailed illustrations by incorporating bright colors and lots of greenbacks, the actual advice feels a bit vague. Daymond is Black; most of the cast are people of color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-56727-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
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