All ends well in this parade filled with good spirits and optimism.
A parade brings good tidings to an immigrant community beset by war, poverty, and illness.
Thanksgiving morning on the Lower East Side is a special day for a white immigrant girl named Loretta “Rettie” Stanowski. It’s the day of the Ragamuffin Parade, when children dress in rags and collect pennies thrown at them. Nine-year-old Rettie, blonde and rosy-cheeked, needs those pennies because she is the head of her family. Papa is fighting in Europe in the closing days of World War I, and Mama is sick in bed with consumption. Rettie’s little siblings are hungry. Complicating matters in the neighborhood are the quarantine signs for the influenza pandemic. Despite all this, Rettie rises to the occasion, receiving compliments from a visiting nurse as she cleans, prepares food, and teaches her little sisters and brother their school lessons. All ends well as the fighting stops, Mama regains her health, and the flu scare abates. Pumpkins and apples adorn the tenement apartment as “a young girl’s heart is filled with the hope of Thanksgiving.” Noble’s tale of parades and tenement life positively brims to overflowing with good cheer, culminating on Thanksgiving Day 1918. Gardner’s full-color illustrations depict a bustling community where good spirits overcome bad happenings.
All ends well in this parade filled with good spirits and optimism. (photograph, author’s note) (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-58536-960-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Nice enough but not worth repeat reads.
Emma deals with jitters before playing the guitar in the school talent show.
Pop musician Kevin Jonas and his wife, Danielle, put performance at the center of their picture-book debut. When Emma is intimidated by her very talented friends, the encouragement of her younger sister, Bella, and the support of her family help her to shine her own light. The story is straightforward and the moral familiar: Draw strength from your family and within to overcome your fears. Employing the performance-anxiety trope that’s been written many times over, the book plods along predictably—there’s nothing really new or surprising here. Dawson’s full-color digital illustrations center a White-presenting family along with Emma’s three friends of color: Jamila has tanned skin and wears a hijab; Wendy has dark brown skin and Afro puffs; and Luis has medium brown skin. Emma’s expressive eyes and face are the real draw of the artwork—from worry to embarrassment to joy, it’s clear what she’s feeling. A standout double-page spread depicts Emma’s talent show performance, with a rainbow swirl of music erupting from an amp and Emma rocking a glam outfit and electric guitar. Overall, the book reads pretty plainly, buoyed largely by the artwork. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Nice enough but not worth repeat reads. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: March 29, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-35207-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
Who wouldn’t love spending time with a memorable grandmother like this?
Grandma’s so-called errors are enough to drive anyone gaga—but in the best possible way.
On Saturdays, when Gaga visits her 4-year-old grandchild—who narrates the story—she “makes lots of mistakes.” Sometimes she wears her fuzzy slippers on her ears. Or she and her grandchild switch their eyeglasses so neither of them can see a thing. Or she substitutes a chocolate bar for chewing gum, rationalizing, “Isn’t that gum? You can chew it.” Gaga sees nothing wrong in reading an upside-down book to the child. On treks to the park, the pair walk backward. Occasionally, the protagonist’s parents disapprove of Gaga’s ideas, such as feeding their child marshmallows before dinner or filling the tub to overflowing with soap bubbles. But grandchild and Gaga agree that “mistakes are fun, aren’t they?” This is a gently comical tribute to warm, deeply loving grandmother-grandchild relationships. Gaga clearly understands that adults can easily form close bonds with kids if they use humor, behave in a childlike manner themselves, and appreciate a youngster’s sense of wonder and absurdity. The message here is that more grown-ups should make the “mistake” of loosening up a bit. The dynamic pencil, watercolor, and gouache illustrations are as free-wheeling and entertaining as gray-haired Gaga, who is pale-skinned; the protagonists and the parents are brown-skinned.
Who wouldn’t love spending time with a memorable grandmother like this? (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: April 2, 2024
ISBN: 9780593529461
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Rocky Pond Books/Penguin
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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