by Atinuke ; illustrated by Lauren Tobia ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2017
Readers will be thrilled to discover the next book in the series is already available.
This sixth installment of the Anna Hibiscus series finds Anna leaving the big white house in the city where she lives with her extended family to experience life in Grandfather’s rural village.
As with the other stories, the country is not identified. Possibly it is Nigeria, where Atinuke grew up. This vagueness is somewhat problematic. Africa is a huge continent; implying that all African village life is like Grandfather’s village is something of an oversimplification. On the other hand, not identifying the country avoids geopolitical issues that are well beyond the scope of an early chapter book. In the city Anna lives a protected and somewhat privileged life. In the village she learns the practical reasons for doing things the “bush” way—despite her aunties’ implication that “bush” is bad. The mixed-race girl also experiences prejudice because she is an “oyinbo,” a “light-skinned foreigner,” and realizes that she can both teach the children in the village and also learn from them. Filtered through Anna’s open-hearted innocence these lessons do not feel preachy. It seems perfectly natural that Anna’s spelling words are “equality,” “opportunity,” “cooperation,” and “friendship.” Tobia’s grayscale illustrations parallel the story, with Anna and her winsome smile always at center stage.
Readers will be thrilled to discover the next book in the series is already available. (Fiction. 5-9)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-61067-679-3
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Kane Miller
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
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by Atinuke ; illustrated by Lauren Tobia
by Atinuke ; illustrated by Lauren Tobia
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by Henry Winkler ; Lin Oliver ; illustrated by Scott Garrett ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 14, 2014
An uncomplicated opener, with some funny bits and a clear but not heavy agenda.
Hank Zipzer, poster boy for dyslexic middle graders everywhere, stars in a new prequel series highlighting second-grade trials and triumphs.
Hank’s hopes of playing Aqua Fly, a comic-book character, in the upcoming class play founder when, despite plenty of coaching and preparation, he freezes up during tryouts. He is not particularly comforted when his sympathetic teacher adds a nonspeaking role as a bookmark to the play just for him. Following the pattern laid down in his previous appearances as an older child, he gets plenty of help and support from understanding friends (including Ashley Wong, a new apartment-house neighbor). He even manages to turn lemons into lemonade with a quick bit of improv when Nick “the Tick” McKelty, the sneering classmate who took his preferred role, blanks on his lines during the performance. As the aforementioned bully not only chokes in the clutch and gets a demeaning nickname, but is fat, boastful and eats like a pig, the authors’ sensitivity is rather one-sided. Still, Hank has a winning way of bouncing back from adversity, and like the frequent black-and-white line-and-wash drawings, the typeface is designed with easy legibility in mind.
An uncomplicated opener, with some funny bits and a clear but not heavy agenda. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-448-48239-2
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2014
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by Henry Winkler & Lin Oliver ; illustrated by Dan Santat
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by Henry Winkler & Lin Oliver ; illustrated by Ethan Nicolle
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by Henry Winkler & Lin Oliver
by Anne-Sophie Baumann ; illustrated by Didier Balicevic ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 4, 2017
There’s lots to see and do in this big city.
A set of panoramic views of the urban environment: inside and out, above and belowground, at street level and high overhead.
Thanks to many flaps, pull tabs, spinners, and sliders, viewers can take peeks into stores and apartments, see foliage change through the seasons in a park, operate elevators, make buildings rise and come down, visit museums and municipal offices, take in a film, join a children’s parade, marvel as Christmas decorations go up—even look in on a wedding and a funeral. Balicevic populates each elevated cartoon view with dozens of tiny but individualized residents diverse in age, skin tone, hair color and style, dress, and occupation. He also adds such contemporary touches as an electrical charging station for cars, surveillance cameras, smartphones, and fiber optic cables. Moreover, many flaps conceal diagrammatic views of infrastructure elements like water treatment facilities and sources of electrical power or how products ranging from plate glass and paper to bread, cheese, and T-shirts are manufactured (realistically, none of the workers in the last are white). Baumann’s commentary is largely dispensable, but she does worthily observe on the big final pop-up spread that cities are always changing—often, nowadays, becoming more environmentally friendly.
There’s lots to see and do in this big city. (Informational novelty. 6-9)Pub Date: April 4, 2017
ISBN: 979-1-02760-079-3
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Twirl/Chronicle
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2017
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by Anne-Sophie Baumann ; illustrated by Éléanore Della Malva ; translated by Wendeline A. Hardenberg
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by Anne-Sophie Baumann ; illustrated by Hélène Convert ; translated by Wendeline A. Hardenberg
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by Anne-Sophie Baumann & Pierrick Graviou ; illustrated by Didier Balicevic
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