bookshelf

HELLO, GOOD-BYE

Name: HELLO, GOOD-BYE
Author: Arlene Alda
ISBN: 978-0-88776-900-9

by Arlene Alda & photographed by Arlene Alda ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 10, 2009

bookshelf

Although it seems simple, the concept of opposites can be difficult for very young children to grasp. Alda’s attractive photographs won’t necessarily be a big help, featuring subjects as disparate as a palm tree on the beach and a stone Buddha being transported through the streets of New York. Most only carry a single-word description. Particularly for abstract ideas like “above” and “below,” the connection between pictures (in this case of one tree’s branches and a different tree’s roots) and words may be fuzzy at best. This doesn’t mean, however, that the book doesn’t work—it just doesn’t do what readers expect. It opens a world of possibilities for observation and conversation. Young listeners will be intrigued both by the unusual objects pictured on some pages and by the photographer’s creative view of more familiar items. Berries are sweet and juicy, yes, but soft? Of course they are, particularly when compared to pumpkins and squashes, but it’s still a novel way of seeing them, one that offers children (and adults) an enchanting new perspective. (Picture book. 5-8)

Pub Date: March 10, 2009

ISBN: 978-0-88776-900-9

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Tundra Books

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2009

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS

- BOOK REVIEW
LULU'S PIANO LESSON
by Arlene Alda & illustrated by Lisa Desimini

- BOOK REVIEW
IRIS HAS A VIRUS
by Arlene Alda & illustrated by Lisa Desimini

- BOOK REVIEW
HERE A FACE, THERE A FACE
by Arlene Alda & photographed by Arlene Alda

bookshelf

A BIKE LIKE SERGIO'S

by Maribeth Boelts ; illustrated by Noah Z. Jones ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 4, 2016

Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on...

bookshelf

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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
THE PURPLE PUFFY COAT
by Maribeth Boelts ; illustrated by Daniel Duncan

- BOOK REVIEW
KAIA AND THE BEES
by Maribeth Boelts ; illustrated by Angela Dominguez

- BOOK REVIEW
HAPPY LIKE SOCCER
by Maribeth Boelts & illustrated by Lauren Castillo

bookshelf

TRASHY TOWN

by Andrea Zimmerman & David Clemesha ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 30, 1999

Part of a spate of books intent on bringing the garbage collectors in children’s lives a little closer, this almost matches...

bookshelf

Listeners will quickly take up the percussive chorus—“Dump it in, smash it down, drive around the Trashy town! Is the trash truck full yet? NO”—as they follow burly Mr. Gilly, the garbage collector, on his rounds from park to pizza parlor and beyond.

Flinging cans and baskets around with ease, Mr. Gilly dances happily through streetscapes depicted with loud colors and large, blocky shapes; after a climactic visit to the dump, he roars home for a sudsy bath.

Part of a spate of books intent on bringing the garbage collectors in children’s lives a little closer, this almost matches Eve Merriam’s Bam Bam Bam (1995), also illustrated by Yaccarino, for sheer verbal and visual volume. (Picture book. 5-7)