Gadget-minded kids will get a kick out of guessing what sounds come next.
The key to this alphabet book is the word “noisy” in the subtitle.
The cover sets the scene as a team of idiosyncratic robots uses cranes and pulleys to hoist the letters that make up the title into place. Within, they drill, hammer and rivet each large letter, winding up with a full alphabet at the end. And it is noisy: Rather than representing objects in the way of a typical alphabet-book, each letter stands for a sound. Though some are predictable and nicely robotic (C is for “Clang,” “Clink,” “Crash,” and “Clank”), others are not at all expected. E is for “Eek”; I for “ick”; J for “Jolt”; M for “meep” (a robot fart); Y for “Yoink.” X is for “EXplode.” At first the device isn’t obvious, so readers will need to pay attention as the scenes develop. Each robot is constructed differently—there are both people and animal robots—and has a specific task that interacts with another. The robot atop the letter D is leaking oil (“drip drop”), which a robot with vacuum hose arms is sucking up. The double-page spreads of pen, ink and oil on board illustrations that create the assemblage of mechanical creatures will appeal to robot fans. Small details appear here and there, such as the mechanical duck that appears with both D and Q, and the blueprint endpapers add a clever touch.
Gadget-minded kids will get a kick out of guessing what sounds come next. (Alphabet book. 5-9)Pub Date: June 26, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-8431-7237-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Price Stern Sloan
Review Posted Online: April 8, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
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
Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on...
Continuing from their acclaimed Those Shoes (2007), Boelts and Jones entwine conversations on money, motives, and morality.
This second collaboration between author and illustrator is set within an urban multicultural streetscape, where brown-skinned protagonist Ruben wishes for a bike like his friend Sergio’s. He wishes, but Ruben knows too well the pressure his family feels to prioritize the essentials. While Sergio buys a pack of football cards from Sonny’s Grocery, Ruben must buy the bread his mom wants. A familiar lady drops what Ruben believes to be a $1 bill, but picking it up, to his shock, he discovers $100! Is this Ruben’s chance to get himself the bike of his dreams? In a fateful twist, Ruben loses track of the C-note and is sent into a panic. After finally finding it nestled deep in a backpack pocket, he comes to a sense of moral clarity: “I remember how it was for me when that money that was hers—then mine—was gone.” When he returns the bill to her, the lady offers Ruben her blessing, leaving him with double-dipped emotions, “happy and mixed up, full and empty.” Readers will be pleased that there’s no reward for Ruben’s choice of integrity beyond the priceless love and warmth of a family’s care and pride.
Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on children. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6649-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
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