A wholesome story about community whose message is more inspiring than its prose.
The sixth installment of Delauney’s Owning the Dashpicture book series follows two young brothers who take on household responsibilities.
When Mom falls off her bike and breaks her leg, brothers Luke and Iver make a list of chores they can do while she’s recovering: cleaning, cooking, looking after the family dog. They also aim to help pay some bills by selling brownies. As the days go by, all this work takes its toll on the brothers. They grow fatigued and fall behind at school. One day, they wake to find all the neighborhood kids (portrayed as ethnically diverse, with one girl in a wheelchair) have come to help them complete their to-do list. So successful are these joint efforts, the kids make a pact always to be there for one another. Delauney writes with heart and enthusiasm, but with no clear appreciation of meter, leading to a narrative that contorts itself in search of end rhymes. For example: “As Iver finished reading, they heard the doorbell ring. / Luke rushed to open the front door and jumped back smiling. / ‘Who is it?’ Iver demanded. ‘Who is at the door?’ / Luke gazed back at his brother. ‘Honestly, I’m not sure.’” Textual flow notwithstanding, young readers will likely respond well to the brothers’ good intentions and upbeat approach to family obligations, their bright outlook reflected in Civati’s open, pastel digital illustrations. Plot and picture combine nicely together to convey a sense of community.
A wholesome story about community whose message is more inspiring than its prose.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 9798891380837
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on...
Continuing from their acclaimed Those Shoes (2007), Boelts and Jones entwine conversations on money, motives, and morality.
This second collaboration between author and illustrator is set within an urban multicultural streetscape, where brown-skinned protagonist Ruben wishes for a bike like his friend Sergio’s. He wishes, but Ruben knows too well the pressure his family feels to prioritize the essentials. While Sergio buys a pack of football cards from Sonny’s Grocery, Ruben must buy the bread his mom wants. A familiar lady drops what Ruben believes to be a $1 bill, but picking it up, to his shock, he discovers $100! Is this Ruben’s chance to get himself the bike of his dreams? In a fateful twist, Ruben loses track of the C-note and is sent into a panic. After finally finding it nestled deep in a backpack pocket, he comes to a sense of moral clarity: “I remember how it was for me when that money that was hers—then mine—was gone.” When he returns the bill to her, the lady offers Ruben her blessing, leaving him with double-dipped emotions, “happy and mixed up, full and empty.” Readers will be pleased that there’s no reward for Ruben’s choice of integrity beyond the priceless love and warmth of a family’s care and pride.
Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on children. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6649-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
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