Readers should find this gentle conflict easy to relate to.
Following Anna, Banana, and the Friendship Split (2015), Anna must iron out the friendship wrinkles created when her duo becomes a trio.
Anna’s happy to be friends with Sadie again, and she’s glad to have another best friend in Isabel—she wants Sadie and Isabel to be best friends as well. Their field trip to the zoo gets off to a bad start for the three as a unit, though: the bus driver won’t allow more than two to a seat, putting Anna in the position of having to pick which friend to sit with. That sets the tone for the rest of their trip, as Sadie and Isabel jockey for the position of Anna’s favorite, and Anna contorts herself to avoid hurting anyone’s feelings. When Anna speaks up, the girls decide on a formalized system of parity for their group, resulting in three-way disappointment till Anna’s father, a romance novelist, helps her parse the nuances of fairness. After this, the group dynamic slides into harmony in an overly convenient wrap-up. The humor is stronger in this installment than before, with poop jokes for child readers and Anna’s father’s job as a nugget of humor for adults helping the child readers. (Anna’s mom spouts business-speak.) Anna is depicted as dark-skinned in Park’s cover illustration, Isabel is Latina, and Sadie is a freckled Caucasian girl.
Readers should find this gentle conflict easy to relate to. (Fiction. 6-10)Pub Date: July 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4814-1608-5
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 10, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2015
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for...
A gentle voice and familiar pitfalls characterize this tale of a boy navigating the risky road to responsibility.
Gavin is new to his neighborhood and Carver Elementary. He likes his new friend, Richard, and has a typically contentious relationship with his older sister, Danielle. When Gavin’s desire to impress Richard sets off a disastrous chain of events, the boy struggles to evade responsibility for his actions. “After all, it isn’t his fault that Danielle’s snow globe got broken. Sure, he shouldn’t have been in her room—but then, she shouldn’t be keeping candy in her room to tempt him. Anybody would be tempted. Anybody!” opines Gavin once he learns the punishment for his crime. While Gavin has a charming Everyboy quality, and his aversion to Aunt Myrtle’s yapping little dog rings true, little about Gavin distinguishes him from other trouble-prone protagonists. He is, regrettably, forgettable. Coretta Scott King Honor winner English (Francie, 1999) is a teacher whose storytelling usually benefits from her day job. Unfortunately, the pizzazz of classroom chaos is largely absent from this series opener.
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for subsequent volumes. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: Dec. 17, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-547-97044-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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