A relatable, if limited, story about a veteran that centers on how children can help adults.
This illustrated book written by and for middle schoolers shows how a disorder affects a soldier and his daughter.
Jewel Koagillo’s father has just returned from serving in the military overseas. His experience has left him with post-traumatic stress disorder, giving him “vivid, violent flashbacks and frightening nightmares.” He doesn’t seem like himself; “the screams, the pain, and the horrible things he says bring the war right into our very own house,” Jewel says. Starting a new school (her fourth), she experiences the ordinary first-day jitters, but also worries about her father. She meets a friendly girl, Brittany, who arranges to come over after school, but Jewel’s worst fears are realized when Brittany is greeted at the door by a hyped-up Mr. Koagillo, who screams at her to go away. Of course, Brittany tells everyone, and Jewel is teased mercilessly. But on Veterans Day, Mr. Koagillo speaks at a school assembly to explain the disorder—and unexpectedly demonstrates it when a loud noise causes him to reexperience the war. Jewel’s compassionate response and Brittany’s revelation that her father also suffers from the disorder bring cheers and claps, and the principal, who has a Purple Heart, underscores the message that unseen injuries hurt as much as visible ones. Conceived as a class exercise by photographer Ryan, this debut book was written by three sixth-graders under his supervision. The authors convey Jewel’s point of view well, capturing her tween self-consciousness and the scariness of a father who can’t always control himself. When she tells him that “I would rather have you this way than not at all,” the message is both loving and stark, a realistic nod to the losses faced by military families. But rather than citing any societal or governmental responsibility for taking care of veterans, the book only focuses on what children should do—“send cards to the VA hospital, raise money for research or medications.”
A relatable, if limited, story about a veteran that centers on how children can help adults.Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5172-9187-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A joyful celebration.
Families in a variety of configurations play, dance, and celebrate together.
The rhymed verse, based on a song from the Noodle Loaf children’s podcast, declares that “Families belong / Together like a puzzle / Different-sized people / One big snuggle.” The accompanying image shows an interracial couple of caregivers (one with brown skin and one pale) cuddling with a pajama-clad toddler with light brown skin and surrounded by two cats and a dog. Subsequent pages show a wide array of families with members of many different racial presentations engaging in bike and bus rides, indoor dance parties, and more. In some, readers see only one caregiver: a father or a grandparent, perhaps. One same-sex couple with two children in tow are expecting another child. Smart’s illustrations are playful and expressive, curating the most joyful moments of family life. The verse, punctuated by the word together, frequently set in oversized font, is gently inclusive at its best but may trip up readers with its irregular rhythms. The song that inspired the book can be found on the Noodle Loaf website.
A joyful celebration. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-22276-8
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Rise x Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
Continuing to find inspiration in the work of Virginia Lee Burton, Munro Leaf and other illustrators of the past, Long (The Little Engine That Could, 2005) offers an aw-shucks friendship tale that features a small but hardworking tractor (“putt puff puttedy chuff”) with a Little Toot–style face and a big-eared young descendant of Ferdinand the bull who gets stuck in deep, gooey mud. After the big new yellow tractor, crowds of overalls-clad locals and a red fire engine all fail to pull her out, the little tractor (who had been left behind the barn to rust after the arrival of the new tractor) comes putt-puff-puttedy-chuff-ing down the hill to entice his terrified bovine buddy successfully back to dry ground. Short on internal logic but long on creamy scenes of calf and tractor either gamboling energetically with a gaggle of McCloskey-like geese through neutral-toned fields or resting peacefully in the shade of a gnarled tree (apple, not cork), the episode will certainly draw nostalgic adults. Considering the author’s track record and influences, it may find a welcome from younger audiences too. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-399-25248-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2009
SEEN & HEARD
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