Beautifully crafted and warmly empathetic.
Inspired by her family’s experiences of leaving Moscow following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Desnitskaya examines the effects of emigration.
A mother and child, pale-skinned with reddish hair, have left home. The youngster shares details about the big city they’ve left behind. A star-shaped cardboard lamp used to hang in the apartment’s kitchen window, orienting the child while the little one headed home from music lessons. As war began, “We left for another country. It’s not like home here.” The language, the food, the view from the bleak new apartment: all unfamiliar. A gifted illustrator, Desnitskaya contrasts past and present in facing spreads with varied color intensities. Prior scenes show the family’s contentment as they eat and read in the warm glow of the star lamp. There’s a red-haired, light-skinned adult in one scene: Dad? The new city and apartment are unremittingly gray, with shop and street signs depicted in intentionally obscure text. People’s word bubbles reveal only scribbles. “Even Mom is different.” She bends over her phone, her back to the narrator, effectively personifying the desperate attempt to connect with what—and who—has been left behind. When Mom brings craft supplies home one day, the pair make a cardboard star and rig a lamp for the window. “After that, everything around us became a little less different.” Scenes brighten as the city grows more decipherable, and the narrator makes a friend. The blue-and-yellow color palette poignantly hints at Desnitskaya’s sympathies.
Beautifully crafted and warmly empathetic. (author’s note) (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: Aug. 20, 2024
ISBN: 9780802856319
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Eerdmans
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A tale of mutual adoration that hits a sweet note.
Little Honey Bunny Funnybunny loves baseball almost as much as she loves her big brother P.J.—though it’s a close-run thing.
Readers familiar with the pranks P.J. plays on his younger sibling in older episodes of the series (most illustrated by Roger Bollen) will be amused—and perhaps a little confused—to see him in the role of perfect big brother after meeting his swaddled little sister for the first time in mama’s lap. But here, along with being a constant companion and “always happy to see her,” he cements his heroic status in her eyes by hitting a home run for his baseball team and then patiently teaching her how to play T-ball. After carefully coaching her and leading her through warm-up exercises, he even sits in the stands, loudly cheering her on as she scores the winning run in her own very first game. “‘You are the best brother a bunny could ever have!’” she burbles. This tale’s a tad blander compared with others centered on P.J. and his sister, but it’s undeniably cheery, with text well structured for burgeoning readers. The all-smiles animal cast in Bowers’ cartoon art features a large and diversely hued family of bunnies sporting immense floppy ears as well as a multispecies crowd of furry onlookers equally varied of color, with one spectator in a wheelchair.
A tale of mutual adoration that hits a sweet note. (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9798217032464
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2026
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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