Carmen’s moxie still charms, even when Eduardo is stealing the show.
Dramatic triple threat–in-training Carmen returns in another story of sibling love and sharing the spotlight.
Since putting on her big home stage show in Starring Carmen! (2017), things appear to be going great for young actress/singer/director Carmen and her adoring little brother, Eduardo. When Carmen decides to turn her attention to the big time by submitting an entry to a contest for a Dino-Krispies cereal commercial, she names Eduardo cinematographer (“What’s a cinnamon-tographer?” he asks). She puts together a showstopping dance number, but it’s cute Eduardo in a dino costume who gets the ad agency’s attention. Carmen must, of course, overcome her emotions without displaying bitterness toward Eduardo, who offers to turn down the gig. For readers of the first book, it’ll come as no surprise that Carmen won’t let that happen, and she shows some growth since then in how quickly she becomes a cheerleader for her brother. Soon, Carmen is seeking career opportunities in talent management. What the Carmen books do well is treat the overeager enthusiasm of Carmen with compassion: Her dreams aren’t presented as unrealistic or irritating to her bilingual, interracial, Latinx family; her parents and brother enjoy her performances. The illustrations throughout capture great human moments in the characters’ expressions, the way they stand, dance, and move, and the ebullient mass of purple hair on Carmen’s (and her mother’s) head.
Carmen’s moxie still charms, even when Eduardo is stealing the show. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Sept. 11, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3169-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
A retro-futuristic romp, literally and figuratively screwy.
Robo-parents Diode and Lugnut present daughter Cathode with a new little brother—who requires, unfortunately, some assembly.
Arriving in pieces from some mechanistic version of Ikea, little Flange turns out to be a cute but complicated tyke who immediately falls apart…and then rockets uncontrollably about the room after an overconfident uncle tinkers with his basic design. As a squad of helpline techies and bevies of neighbors bearing sludge cake and like treats roll in, the cluttered and increasingly crowded scene deteriorates into madcap chaos—until at last Cath, with help from Roomba-like robodog Sprocket, stages an intervention by whisking the hapless new arrival off to a backyard workshop for a proper assembly and software update. “You’re such a good big sister!” warbles her frazzled mom. Wiesner’s robots display his characteristic clean lines and even hues but endearingly look like vaguely anthropomorphic piles of random jet-engine parts and old vacuum cleaners loosely connected by joints of armored cable. They roll hither and thither through neatly squared-off panels and pages in infectiously comical dismay. Even the end’s domestic tranquility lasts only until Cathode spots the little box buried in the bigger one’s packing material: “TWINS!” (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-22-inch double-page spreads viewed at 52% of actual size.)
A retro-futuristic romp, literally and figuratively screwy. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-544-98731-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2020
A tongue-in-cheek bildungsroman about celebrating differences and the underrated superpowers of gentleness and sweetness.
Kaijus—giant Godzilla-like creatures—are supposed to have fearsome powers like atomic breath, the ability to summon storms, and magnetism—but not young Anzu.
Instead, he was born with the power of finding “beauty in small things.” Finally old enough to be assigned his own personal city to terrorize, Anzu hopes to impress his fond parents. But instead of inflicting fiery destruction on the tiny kodamalike residents at his feet, the best he can do is rain garlands of flowers down on them. He tries to wreak havoc by uprooting a tree but instead ends up creating a peaceful playground of blossoming animal topiaries. “I’ll never strike fear,” Anzu frets. “Am I even a kaiju?” Young readers may well share his doubts since, despite towering over the city of lumpy buildings made from low mounds of dirt, he and his family look more like cute, plump stuffies than scary reptilian beasts. When Anzu does at last manage a little devastation, his feeling of triumph is short-lived—and so, to restore joy and laughter, he exerts his special flower powers with surprising, and satisfying, results. The text is engaging and heartwarming without being cloying. The bright, colorful illustrations are rendered in watercolor and ink. Full-bleed artwork is interspersed with panels, which, along with the use of narrative boxes, lend a graphic feel to the presentation.
A tongue-in-cheek bildungsroman about celebrating differences and the underrated superpowers of gentleness and sweetness. (Graphic picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Jan. 11, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-77612-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2022
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