A lovely, quiet beach story.
A young girl must reluctantly leave the city and friends she loves in favor of summer in a cottage with her family on the Pacific coast.
The young protagonist of this lyrical picture book doesn’t want to leave her friends behind. However, the trip is not optional. Her negative reaction to the ocean upon arrival (“dull, droning, dreary water”) is important as it highlights the drastic change her feelings undergo over the course of the story. After a couple of days of avoid-the-ocean tantrums, the protagonist, “slowly, grumping,” accompanies her mother to the water. The pale color palette used throughout the story successfully evokes a watery, sun-bleached feel—a perfect complement for this beach story. The descriptive prose continues, chronicling the evolution of the protagonist’s response to the ocean from avoidance to a desire to make that ocean her “Specific Ocean” to a reluctance to leave, ending with the realization that the ocean will always be inside her. Her final description of the ocean is rapturous: “Calm. Blue. Ruffled. Gray. Playful. Green. Mysterious. Black. Foggy. Silver. Roaring. White.” Some of the protagonist’s thoughts and concerns feel a bit adult, but the poetry of the text makes this easy to forgive. The slight didacticism of the oceanographic message is similarly easy to overlook.
A lovely, quiet beach story. (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-894786-35-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: May 11, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Only for dedicated fans of the series.
When a kid gets the part of the ninja master in the school play, it finally seems to be the right time to tackle the closet monster.
“I spot my monster right away. / He’s practicing his ROAR. / He almost scares me half to death, / but I won’t be scared anymore!” The monster is a large, fluffy poison-green beast with blue hands and feet and face and a fluffy blue-and-green–striped tail. The kid employs a “bag of tricks” to try to catch the monster: in it are a giant wind-up shark, two cans of silly string, and an elaborate cage-and-robot trap. This last works, but with an unexpected result: the monster looks sad. Turns out he was only scaring the boy to wake him up so they could be friends. The monster greets the boy in the usual monster way: he “rips a massive FART!!” that smells like strawberries and lime, and then they go to the monster’s house to meet his parents and play. The final two spreads show the duo getting ready for bed, which is a rather anticlimactic end to what has otherwise been a rambunctious tale. Elkerton’s bright illustrations have a TV-cartoon aesthetic, and his playful beast is never scary. The narrator is depicted with black eyes and hair and pale skin. Wallace’s limping verses are uninspired at best, and the scansion and meter are frequently off.
Only for dedicated fans of the series. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-4894-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A strong second outing for Dillard and J.D.
Breakout kid barber J.D. embraces a summer of opportunity.
Readers met J.D. Jones just as he took his hometown of Meridian, Mississippi, by storm, winning himself community acclaim and a chair at the revered Hart and Sons barbershop in series opener J.D. and the Great Barber Battle(2021). What’s next for the haircut prodigy? School’s just getting out, and there’s so much life happening outside—if only one can escape home learning with the grandparents. J.D.’s sister, Vanessa, brings along multitalented mutual friend Jessyka to share an ambitious challenge: “Let’s start a YouTube channel!” Can they get millions of views and wow the whole world? They are already amazing at haircuts and hairstyles—all they need is to learn how to make a great YouTube video. The story models strategies for scripting short videos reflecting the templates of viral YouTube hair tutorials, inviting readers to not only see the journey of the characters, but maybe also practice these skills at home. This book is bound to educate all about some of the most storied and cherished traditions within the Black community. Bringing in Vanessa is a great touch to extend the series across gender, and hopefully she’ll get a chance to lead her own adventures. This book blends skill-building, entrepreneurship, and strong family values to give young Black children visions of what’s possible when they follow their passions and embrace their community.
A strong second outing for Dillard and J.D. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-11155-0
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Kokila
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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