An uplifting story that rightfully asserts the multidimensionality of Black identity.
An empowering picture book seeks to instill pride in the descendants of enslaved people.
A dark-skinned young girl is the only brown person in her class. When her teacher talks about slavery, she feels ashamed and scrutinized by her peers. After a lesson about civil rights, some kids on the school playground whisper behind her back, and one boy even makes a racist comment. Feeling like she has been reduced to her race (“Is that all you see when you look at me?"), the girl finds perspective and strength in the stories her mother has told her about their female ancestors. Recalling that she has privileges and opportunities her foremothers didn’t have reminds the girl to be grateful. The narrative skips forward in time as the girl grows up and has a daughter who also finds herself the only brown-skinned child in her class. Now a woman, the protagonist teaches her daughter how to break out of the boxes that people put her in and exhorts her to “sit up straight / and / fly high into the sky.” A double-page spread shows a proud Black girl holding her fists in the air, braids flying outward, with her face skyward and a dazzling sunburst behind her. This emotionally honest look at the challenges of processing historical injustice and racial trauma provides a much-needed mirror for Black students, but anyone who has ever felt trapped by other people’s definitions of who they are can relate to the story on some level. Robinson’s digital illustrations exude a gentle dignity.
An uplifting story that rightfully asserts the multidimensionality of Black identity. (author's note, illustrator’s note) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Jan. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4257-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Neal Porter/Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
A winning combination of animal facts and outstanding nature photography.
Photographs of wild animal babies—sometimes alone and sometimes with family members—are accompanied by simple text about their mobility.
From the cover’s elephants and the leaping lemurs on the title page on through the endpapers (where the photographer introduces herself), the richness of the color photographs compels readers to keep reading and gazing. The first double-page spread, which shows a newborn zebra—coat still damp and ragged but already upright—explains that some baby animals come into the world ready to move, while others need help at first. “Let’s follow these baby animals and see how they get around!” Each photograph is accompanied by facts about a different animal’s mobility as a baby, including a wonderful double-page spread that shows a mother bear giving a piggyback ride to three cubs, noting that baby bears can be afraid of water. And who knew that when sloths make their weekly descent from trees, it’s primarily “to poop!” Although simple, the text effortlessly introduces vocabulary through context—words such as “foal,” “predators,” and “pod” (of whales). Phrases with exclamation marks and audience-conscious remarks such as “Quick, quick, little piggies!” and “See you later, orcas!” keep the age level to preschool and primary grades. Kudos to the author for balancing the baby animals’ sexes when she uses pronouns.
A winning combination of animal facts and outstanding nature photography. (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 15, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-77147-299-9
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Owlkids Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 21, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
Raindrops are delightful and danceable musical melodies.
Movie happiness is now picture-book joy.
The title song from the classic 1952 movie musical is a song-and-dance salute to joie de vivre—as is this book version. It opens with a cheerful double-page spread of a brown-skinned child in perfectly matched yellow rain gear perched on a lamppost as musical notes in the same cheerful yellow stand out against a blue rain-splattered background. Homage to Gene Kelly? Of course! On the following pages, children in equally colorful rainy-day outfits join in the fun as they dance and march along. They watch from the observation deck of the Empire State Building as clouds fill the sky and the same bright yellow notes appear. Close-ups of the smiling, multiracial cast follow as they watch flowers grow or a reflection in a puddle and then happily splash away to other landscapes filled with tropical birds and lush green foliage. Sing the lyrics or recite the words “based on the song” and have a really good time. Hopgood’s digitally rendered collages of watercolor, pencil, and ink add depth, texture, and buoyant spirit to the package.
Raindrops are delightful and danceable musical melodies. (illustrator’s note) (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-12770-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Godwin Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
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