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IF I WERE PRESIDENT

Earnest but long-winded.

An aspiring president thinks big and small in this soliloquy about play and goodwill.

In this tale translated from Norwegian, a brown-skinned child shares dozens of intentions about how they would lead as “team captain for the whole country” (“because we’re all on the same team, after all”). The aspirations of the future leader range from silly to broad and heady. “Tables would be piled high with cookies” is followed by “grown-ups would have to go to kindergarten once a month to learn how to [play].” After dozens of ideas that bend and dance around each layout, promises get more serious and are in dialogue with daily news. “I’d make sure anyone having a hard time in their own country could come here to live with us” addresses the issues faced by refugees and immigrants; there are other pledges about fiscal responsibility, the environment, and social assistance. Even though the ideas are either chuckle-inducing or heartwarming (or both) across the board, the sheer number of thoughts will make this drag on for some and overwhelm others. Negative space, bright crayon scribbles and drawings, and fingerprint art offer light whimsy. Spreads are busy with art and arcs of small text might be hard to see for some, but for others it allows the action to take center stage. Characters are diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Earnest but long-winded. ((Picture book. 4-6))

Pub Date: April 4, 2023

ISBN: 9781915244352

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Lantana

Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2023

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BEAUTIFUL, WONDERFUL, STRONG LITTLE ME!

Mixed-race children certainly deserve mirror books, but they also deserve excellent text and illustrations. This one misses...

This tan-skinned, freckle-faced narrator extols her own virtues while describing the challenges of being of mixed race.

Protagonist Lilly appears on the cover, and her voluminous curly, twirly hair fills the image. Throughout the rhyming narrative, accompanied by cartoonish digital illustrations, Lilly brags on her dark skin (that isn’t very), “frizzy, wild” hair, eyebrows, intellect, and more. Her five friends present black, Asian, white (one blonde, one redheaded), and brown (this last uses a wheelchair). This array smacks of tokenism, since the protagonist focuses only on self-promotion, leaving no room for the friends’ character development. Lilly describes how hurtful racial microaggressions can be by recalling questions others ask her like “What are you?” She remains resilient and says that even though her skin and hair make her different, “the way that I look / Is not all I’m about.” But she spends so much time talking about her appearance that this may be hard for readers to believe. The rhyming verse that conveys her self-celebration is often clumsy and forced, resulting in a poorly written, plotless story for which the internal illustrations fall far short of the quality of the cover image.

Mixed-race children certainly deserve mirror books, but they also deserve excellent text and illustrations. This one misses the mark on both counts. (Picture book. 4-6)

Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-63233-170-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Eifrig

Review Posted Online: June 10, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018

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THE HIPS ON THE DRAG QUEEN GO SWISH, SWISH, SWISH

Fun, fun, fun all through the town!

This book’s gonna werk, werk, werk all through Pride Month and beyond.

Drag persona Lil Miss Hot Mess rewrites “The Wheels on the Bus” to create a fun, movement-filled, family-friendly celebration of drag. The text opens with the titular verse to establish the familiar song’s formulaic pattern: “The hips on the drag queen go SWISH, SWISH, SWISH… / ALL THROUGH THE TOWN!” Along the way, more and more drag queens join in the celebration. The unnamed queens proudly display a range of skin tones, sizes, and body modifications to create a diverse cast of realistic characters that could easily be spotted at a Pride event or on RuPaul’s Drag Race. The palette of both costumes and backgrounds is appropriately psychedelic, and there are plenty of jewels going “BLING, BLING, BLING.” Don’t tell the queens, but the flow is the book’s real star, because it encourages natural kinetic participation that will have groups of young readers giggling and miming along with the story. Libraries and bookshops hosting drag-queen storytimes will find this a popular choice, and those celebrating LGBTQ+ heritage will also find this a useful book for the pre-K crowd. Curious children unfamiliar with a drag queen may require a brief explanation, but the spectacle stands up just fine on its own platforms.

Fun, fun, fun all through the town! (Picture book. 4-6)

Pub Date: May 5, 2020

ISBN: 978-0-7624-6765-5

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Running Press Kids

Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020

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