Nicely addresses bullying without getting nasty.
Real friends, imaginary friends? Does it make a difference?
Lucy loves art class. One day, her teacher, Ms. Martin, tells the class to draw pictures of what they did over the weekend. They are allowed to use any materials they’d like for the pictures. Joey is worried because he had a boring weekend, but Lucy knows just what to draw. She has so many ideas that she needs extra paper, which she fills with images of a pink elephant. Stacey tells Lucy that she’s not supposed to be drawing imaginary images—just real things that happened; Lucy assures her that she is drawing what happened. The class shows their work. When it’s Lucy’s turn, they laugh at the pictures of her “new friend,” Lila the elephant: of the duo playing games, having a tea party, and chasing butterflies. Joey then shows a new picture of the blue dinosaur he met over the weekend. Ms. Martin indulges Lucy with a wink, and Joey keeps making fun of Lucy on the bus on the way home…but as the bus pulls away, a pink trunk gives Lucy a hug….Fletcher’s picture-book debut features a confident girl who doesn’t let the skeptics get her down (much). Lyles’ colored-pencil illustrations (final art not seen) offer varied views of a cartoon-realistic classroom any grade schooler will recognize, although aside from black-haired, light-brown–skinned Joey and Lucy, it’s not particularly diverse.
Nicely addresses bullying without getting nasty. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4998-0156-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little Bee Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2016
A jam-packed opener sure to satisfy lovers of the princess genre.
Ice princess Lina must navigate family and school in this early chapter read.
The family picnic is today. This is not a typical gathering, since Lina’s maternal relatives are a royal family of Windtamers who have power over the weather and live in castles floating on clouds. Lina herself is mixed race, with black hair and a tan complexion like her Asian-presenting mother’s; her Groundling father appears to be a white human. While making a grand entrance at the castle of her grandfather, the North Wind, she fails to successfully ride a gust of wind and crashes in front of her entire family. This prompts her stern grandfather to ask that Lina move in with him so he can teach her to control her powers. Desperate to avoid this, Lina and her friend Claudia, who is black, get Lina accepted at the Hilltop Science and Arts Academy. Lina’s parents allow her to go as long as she does lessons with grandpa on Saturdays. However, fitting in at a Groundling school is rough, especially when your powers start freak winter storms! With the story unfurling in diary format, bright-pink–highlighted grayscale illustrations help move the plot along. There are slight gaps in the storytelling and the pacing is occasionally uneven, but Lina is full of spunk and promotes self-acceptance.
A jam-packed opener sure to satisfy lovers of the princess genre. (Fantasy. 5-8)Pub Date: June 25, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-35393-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
A sweet, if oft-told, story.
A plush toy rabbit bonds with a boy and watches him grow into adulthood.
The boy receives the blue bunny for his birthday and immediately becomes attached to it. Unbeknownst to him, the ungendered bunny is sentient; it engages in dialogue with fellow toys, giving readers insight into its thoughts. The bunny's goal is to have grand adventures when the boy grows up and no longer needs its company. The boy spends many years playing imaginatively with the bunny, holding it close during both joyous and sorrowful times and taking it along on family trips. As a young man, he marries, starts a family, and hands over the beloved toy to his toddler-aged child in a crib. The bunny's epiphany—that he does not need to wait for great adventures since all his dreams have already come true in the boy's company—is explicitly stated in the lengthy text, which is in many ways similar to The Velveteen Rabbit (1922). The illustrations, which look hand-painted but were digitally created, are moderately sentimental with an impressionistic dreaminess (one illustration even includes a bunny-shaped cloud in the sky) and a warm glow throughout. The depiction of a teenage male openly displaying his emotions—hugging his beloved childhood toy for example—is refreshing. All human characters present as White expect for one of the boy’s friends who is Black.
A sweet, if oft-told, story. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-72825-448-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2022
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