by Maria Eugênia ; illustrated by Maria Eugênia ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 10, 2014
This didactic little piece will likely leave readers puzzled rather than liberated.
This quirky—odd, even—paean to female self-respect preaches too baldly and too briefly.
“Some people say Ink-blot is badly drawn,” and readers might think so, with her scribbled hair and misshapen eyes. But the artist immediately launches into a rant about how most girls worry about their hair, their size, their ears or freckles, every part of their bodies. Page after page, girls with exaggerated features rendered in bold, expressive colors catalog their supposed failings, until readers return to Ink-blot, who may “really [be] BADLY DRAWN” but who “COULDN’T CARE LESS! She’s too busy having fun.” It is as unvarnished a piece as can be imagined, and to what end? To say, as the author does, that “we know that most girls think… / they’re badly drawn” neither comforts nor exalts (and may not be true). The pictures are very ugly indeed, and while this may be a transgressive and rebellious artistic act, it comes off the page as off-putting in the extreme. Moreover, as the message is aimed at preteen girls, the picture-book format seems an ineffective way to reach them.
This didactic little piece will likely leave readers puzzled rather than liberated. (Picture book. 7-11)Pub Date: March 10, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-927583-22-7
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Second Story Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2014
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More by Jan Johnston
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by Jan Johnston & illustrated by Maria Eugênia
by Daymond John ; illustrated by Nicole Miles ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 21, 2023
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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by Suzy Kline ; illustrated by Amy Wummer ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 27, 2018
A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode.
A long-running series reaches its closing chapters.
Having, as Kline notes in her warm valedictory acknowledgements, taken 30 years to get through second and third grade, Harry Spooger is overdue to move on—but not just into fourth grade, it turns out, as his family is moving to another town as soon as the school year ends. The news leaves his best friend, narrator “Dougo,” devastated…particularly as Harry doesn’t seem all that fussed about it. With series fans in mind, the author takes Harry through a sort of last-day-of-school farewell tour. From his desk he pulls a burned hot dog and other items that featured in past episodes, says goodbye to Song Lee and other classmates, and even (for the first time ever) leads Doug and readers into his house and memento-strewn room for further reminiscing. Of course, Harry isn’t as blasé about the move as he pretends, and eyes aren’t exactly dry when he departs. But hardly is he out of sight before Doug is meeting Mohammad, a new neighbor from Syria who (along with further diversifying a cast that began as mostly white but has become increasingly multiethnic over the years) will also be starting fourth grade at summer’s end, and planning a written account of his “horrible” buddy’s exploits. Finished illustrations not seen.
A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Nov. 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-451-47963-1
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2018
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by Suzy Kline & illustrated by Frank Remkiewicz
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by Suzy Kline & illustrated by Frank Remkiewicz
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