Powerful in its cleareyed optimism.
In her debut children’s book, a Dreamer recalls her journey from Mexico to New York and the subsequent reality of living as an undocumented immigrant.
Areli’s tale begins at Abuela’s house, where days brim “with family and sunshine,” delicious “mounds of tortillas and pollo con frijoles for supper,” and calls from Mamá and Papá from America. It’s an idyllic life, but it’s undercut when Areli’s big brother, Alex, born in America, returns to Nueva York, leaving Areli behind. Though Mamá and Papá work hard for “a better life,” the days pass—Areli’s birthday, Día de los Muertos, Navidad—with Areli separated from her family. Then one day Areli must leave Mexico and head to New York with a family friend. It’s a time of difficult goodbyes for Areli, and in the span of a few wordless pages, Areli’s in the midst of the “bigger and faster and noisier” bustle of New York, reunited with her family. In scene after scene of Areli’s life, Uribe’s colorful yet muted artwork depicts the young Dreamer’s voyage from Abuela’s house to America with a lovely sense of restrained appreciation. Morales, a DACA recipient, spins an admirable third-person memoir that deeply resonates thanks to keen details that conjure moods with a few choice words. Although Areli’s tale packs years of experiences in a tight 40-page picture book, the author maintains command of her readers’ attention by translating a life-disrupting migration into a confident, heartfelt story. Key highlights include Areli’s adjustment to life in America and an eye-opening trip to Ellis Island in the latter half of the book.
Powerful in its cleareyed optimism. (author’s note, glossary) (Picture book/memoir. 4-8)Pub Date: June 8, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-984893-99-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House Studio
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2021
PERSPECTIVES
A supplemental rather than introductory book on the great artist.
Frida Kahlo’s strong affection for and identification with animals form the lens through which readers view her life and work in this picture-book biography.
Each two-page spread introduces one or more of her pets, comparing her characteristics to theirs and adding biographical details. Confusingly for young readers, the beginning pages reference pets she owned as an adult, yet the illustrations and events referred to come from earlier in her life. Bonito the parrot perches in a tree overlooking young Frida and her family in her childhood home and pops up again later, just before the first mention of Diego Rivera. Granizo, the fawn, another pet from her adult years, is pictured beside a young Frida and her father along with a description of “her life as a little girl.” The author’s note adds important details about Kahlo’s life and her significance as an artist, as well as recommending specific paintings that feature her beloved animals. Expressive acrylic paintings expertly evoke Kahlo’s style and color palette. While young animal lovers will identify with her attachment to her pets and may enjoy learning about the Aztec origins of her Xolo dogs and the meaning of turkeys in ancient Mexico, the book may be of most interest to those who already have an interest in Kahlo’s life.
A supplemental rather than introductory book on the great artist. (Picture book/biography. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7358-4269-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: NorthSouth
Review Posted Online: June 18, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Hundreds of pages of unbridled uplift boiled down to 40.
From two Nobel Peace Prize winners, an invitation to look past sadness and loneliness to the joy that surrounds us.
Bobbing in the wake of 2016’s heavyweight Book of Joy (2016), this brief but buoyant address to young readers offers an earnest insight: “If you just focus on the thing that is making / you sad, then the sadness is all you see. / But if you look around, you will / see that joy is everywhere.” López expands the simply delivered proposal in fresh and lyrical ways—beginning with paired scenes of the authors as solitary children growing up in very different circumstances on (as they put it) “opposite sides of the world,” then meeting as young friends bonded by streams of rainbow bunting and going on to share their exuberantly hued joy with a group of dancers diverse in terms of age, race, culture, and locale while urging readers to do the same. Though on the whole this comes off as a bit bland (the banter and hilarity that characterized the authors’ recorded interchanges are absent here) and their advice just to look away from the sad things may seem facile in view of what too many children are inescapably faced with, still, it’s hard to imagine anyone in the world more qualified to deliver such a message than these two. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Hundreds of pages of unbridled uplift boiled down to 40. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-48423-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2022
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