A delightful take on the theme of a boy and his dog, full of detailed—and frequently funny—images and a valuable message...
A boy tries to figure out how to replace some missing eggs in this picture book about community and family.
Georgie feels too sleepy to perform his morning chores, but Mama reminds him the eggs “aren’t going to collect themselves.” Georgie ventures out into the ominous clouds and enters the barn only to discover that the eggs are gone. The culprit? A scruffy-looking dog with perfect puppy-dog eyes and a big personality. Georgie names the dog, who is ready to help the boy find a solution to the egg problem, Buster. The dog’s first plan involves Georgie stealing some duck eggs; but that ends with the boy in the stream and still eggless after Buster pulls him out. Buster’s next scheme takes Georgie to Widow Kolbach’s barn. Georgie tries to keep Buster from crossing into her yard, but before the boy can get away, Widow Kolbach spots him. In a surprise twist, the widow needs help in her henhouse, and she allows Georgie to keep half of the eggs he collects for her. “How’d you know she needed help?” Georgie asks Buster. The sweet tale ends happily: Georgie not only obtains his eggs (and Buster gets a new home), but the pair also assists someone who needs an extra hand. Gallegos’ wonderful, tonally perfect images expertly capture Buster’s moods, from looking appropriately shamefaced, his tail between his legs and his ears drooping, to feeling perky. The dog’s excitement, inventiveness, and loyalty to Georgie spring off the page. The pair’s facial expressions are also brilliantly executed in the artwork. The story’s hint about the importance of kindness resonates, especially in light of so many recent news reports about bullying. Adams (The Coal Thief, 2015, etc.) uses challenging, but perfectly appropriate, vocabulary words, like “squelched” for the sound of the mud on Georgie’s boots. The introduction of these words, the small text size, and the historical, rural setting in the illustrations (Georgie wears knickers; midcalf, lace-up boots; and a newsboy cap) may skew the audience to confident early elementary readers (grades two and three).
A delightful take on the theme of a boy and his dog, full of detailed—and frequently funny—images and a valuable message about paying attention to the needs of your neighbors.Pub Date: April 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-940716-36-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Spark Press
Review Posted Online: March 7, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An emotional, much-needed historical graphic novel.
Sandy and his family, Japanese Canadians, experience hatred and incarceration during World War II.
Sandy Saito loves baseball, and the Vancouver Asahi ballplayers are his heroes. But when they lose in the 1941 semifinals, Sandy’s dad calls it a bad omen. Sure enough, in December 1941, Japan bombs Pearl Harbor in the U.S. The Canadian government begins to ban Japanese people from certain areas, moving them to “dormitories” and setting a curfew. Sandy wants to spend time with his father, but as a doctor, his dad is busy, often sneaking out past curfew to work. One night Papa is taken to “where he [is] needed most,” and the family is forced into an internment camp. Life at the camp isn’t easy, and even with some of the Asahi players playing ball there, it just isn’t the same. Trying to understand and find joy again, Sandy struggles with his new reality and relationship with his father. Based on the true experiences of Japanese Canadians and the Vancouver Asahi team, this graphic novel is a glimpse of how their lives were affected by WWII. The end is a bit abrupt, but it’s still an inspiring and sweet look at how baseball helped them through hardship. The illustrations are all in a sepia tone, giving it an antique look and conveying the emotions and struggles. None of the illustrations of their experiences are overly graphic, making it a good introduction to this upsetting topic for middle-grade readers.
An emotional, much-needed historical graphic novel. (afterword, further resources) (Graphic historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5253-0334-0
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A deftly told story that dramatizes how Danes appointed themselves bodyguards—not only for their king, who was in the habit...
The author of the Anastasia books as well as more serious fiction (Rabble Starkey, 1987) offers her first historical fiction—a story about the escape of the Jews from Denmark in 1943.
Five years younger than Lisa in Carol Matas' Lisa's War (1989), Annemarie Johansen has, at 10, known three years of Nazi occupation. Though ever cautious and fearful of the ubiquitous soldiers, she is largely unaware of the extent of the danger around her; the Resistance kept even its participants safer by telling them as little as possible, and Annemarie has never been told that her older sister Lise died in its service. When the Germans plan to round up the Jews, the Johansens take in Annemarie's friend, Ellen Rosen, and pretend she is their daughter; later, they travel to Uncle Hendrik's house on the coast, where the Rosens and other Jews are transported by fishing boat to Sweden. Apart from Lise's offstage death, there is little violence here; like Annemarie, the reader is protected from the full implications of events—but will be caught up in the suspense and menace of several encounters with soldiers and in Annemarie's courageous run as courier on the night of the escape. The book concludes with the Jews' return, after the war, to homes well kept for them by their neighbors.
A deftly told story that dramatizes how Danes appointed themselves bodyguards—not only for their king, who was in the habit of riding alone in Copenhagen, but for their Jews. (Historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: April 1, 1989
ISBN: 0547577095
Page Count: 156
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1989
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