Despite its limitations, this well-meaning book may help to inculcate social awareness in the children who read it.
A photo essay with supplementary illustrations introduces readers to eight children who live on the streets in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Guatemala.
Chippo, a 9-year-old from Zimbabwe, runs away from a house where she is enslaved. Miguel in Mozambique, age 13, spends some time on the city streets and some in a town with his older brother. A Guatemalan street family’s story is more hopeful. Their mother has found a way to earn money and has rented an apartment. In his introduction, the author delineates among these examples and others: children who live on their own on the streets, children who work on the streets (yet may spend some time with their families) and children who are part of street families. Robinson has photographed young people in Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Guatemala with the help of local organizations. Their websites are included opposite the title page, but there is no bibliography or other notes, save for a world map and chart with 2004-2008 figures supplied by UNICEF. Amateurish sketches illustrate the first-person texts, but they detract from the book’s power rather than enhance the reality. The speech balloons that introduce each child are distracting. This important topic would better be explored in greater detail in a format more appropriate for older readers and with greater geographical representation.
Despite its limitations, this well-meaning book may help to inculcate social awareness in the children who read it. (Nonfiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-84780-434-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Frances Lincoln
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2014
Eleven-year-old Griffin Bing is “the man with the plan.” If something needs doing, Griffin carefully plans a fix and his best friend Ben usually gets roped in as assistant. When the town council ignores his plan for a skate park on the grounds of the soon-to-be demolished Rockford House, Griffin plans a camp-out in the house. While there, he discovers a rare Babe Ruth baseball card. His family’s money worries are suddenly a thing of the past, until unscrupulous collectables dealer S. Wendell Palomino swindles him. Griffin and Ben plan to snatch the card back with a little help. Pet-lover Savannah whispers the blood-thirsty Doberman. Rock-climber “Pitch” takes care of scaling the house. Budding-actor Logan distracts the nosy neighbor. Computer-expert Melissa hacks Palomino’s e-mail and the house alarm. Little goes according to plan, but everything turns out all right in this improbable but fun romp by the prolific and always entertaining Korman. (Fiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: March 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-439-90344-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2008
Ordinary kids in an extraordinary setting: still a recipe for bright achievements and belly laughs.
Rejoice! 25 years later, Wayside School is still in session, and the children in Mrs. Jewls’ 30th-floor classroom haven’t changed a bit.
The surreal yet oddly educational nature of their misadventures hasn’t either. There are out-and-out rib ticklers, such as a spelling lesson featuring made-up words and a determined class effort to collect 1 million nail clippings. Additionally, mean queen Kathy steps through a mirror that turns her weirdly nice and she discovers that she likes it, a four-way friendship survives a dumpster dive after lost homework, and Mrs. Jewls makes sure that a long-threatened “Ultimate Test” allows every student to show off a special talent. Episodic though the 30 new chapters are, there are continuing elements that bind them—even to previous outings, such as the note to an elusive teacher Calvin has been carrying since Sideways Stories From Wayside School (1978) and finally delivers. Add to that plenty of deadpan dialogue (“Arithmetic makes my brain numb,” complains Dameon. “That’s why they’re called ‘numb-ers,’ ” explains D.J.) and a wild storm from the titular cloud that shuffles the school’s contents “like a deck of cards,” and Sachar once again dishes up a confection as scrambled and delicious as lunch lady Miss Mush’s improvised “Rainbow Stew.” Diversity is primarily conveyed in the illustrations.
Ordinary kids in an extraordinary setting: still a recipe for bright achievements and belly laughs. (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: March 3, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-296538-7
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
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