Cheerful art and an encouraging story of one girl’s hard work leading to real change.
A little girl realizes she can’t help her grandmother until she helps her community in this moving debut by Robinson, featuring Matsuoka’s fantastic illustrations of a modern African-American family.
Eleven-year-old Zoe is very close to her grandmother, which makes it particularly hard to cope with life after Gram’s heart attack. The doctors have said Gram needs more exercise to help her recover and be healthy. Gram proposes a walk after dinner, which Zoe thinks is a great idea—until her mother points out that, without sidewalks, Gram’s unsteady walking won’t be safe. Zoe’s worry grows until, at school, a visiting guest who works for the city tells the students they can submit photographs of things in their neighborhood that make it difficult to be healthy. The story follows a predictable, but nonetheless powerful, pattern as Zoe takes photos of her neighborhood’s streets, showing that the lack of sidewalks makes it difficult to be a pedestrian. (There are depictions of her taking the photos but no actual photos.) Her project is chosen to compete in front of the mayor, though Zoe doesn’t expect to win first prize. Along the way, Zoe has very few hurdles to overcome except waiting and doing her best. The lack of tension works well: the story shows young readers, especially those of disadvantaged communities, that with time, effort, and the right advocates, they can make a difference. Robinson, who has worked on Photovoice projects but is unaffiliated with the company, puts her real-world experience into an easy-to-grasp format. Zoe’s earnestness and willingness to work—all out of concern for a beloved grandmother—are easy traits to admire. Vocabulary is appropriate for middle graders reading upper-level chapter books, and the frequent full-color illustrations break up the text nicely.
Cheerful art and an encouraging story of one girl’s hard work leading to real change.Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2013
ISBN: 978-0615893532
Page Count: 58
Publisher: La Peche Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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