by Audrey Vernick ; illustrated by Matthew Cordell ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 7, 2015
A sure conversation-starter about empathy.
In typical child fashion, an embarrassing slip of the tongue leads one young blond boy to want to drop out of school altogether.
Mortified by what he said but even more so by the fact that his best friend, African-American Tyler, led the laughter that followed it, the unnamed narrator imagines what he might do now: he could cast a spell to unsay what he said or invent a time machine or pretend to be a new kid in school. Or perhaps he’ll just stay home and work on his jump shot until he’s a teenager and then get a job, but he sure will miss his friends and all the things they do together. But when he passes Tyler at the soccer field, his friend acts like nothing happened. Not only that, he makes a slip of his own, and just like that, the boy is a dropout no longer. Throughout, Vernick plays with the ideas of mockery and embarrassment—the boy himself laughed at something that happened to Tyler last year, and though he swore he wouldn’t laugh at his friends ever again, he does. Tyler defuses the situation by laughing at himself, and that makes all the difference. Cordell’s ink-and-watercolor illustrations masterfully portray the first-person narrator’s every emotion: chagrin, nervousness, embarrassment, sadness, anger.
A sure conversation-starter about empathy. (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: July 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-544-12985-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 11, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
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by Suzy Kline ; illustrated by Amy Wummer ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 27, 2018
A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode.
A long-running series reaches its closing chapters.
Having, as Kline notes in her warm valedictory acknowledgements, taken 30 years to get through second and third grade, Harry Spooger is overdue to move on—but not just into fourth grade, it turns out, as his family is moving to another town as soon as the school year ends. The news leaves his best friend, narrator “Dougo,” devastated…particularly as Harry doesn’t seem all that fussed about it. With series fans in mind, the author takes Harry through a sort of last-day-of-school farewell tour. From his desk he pulls a burned hot dog and other items that featured in past episodes, says goodbye to Song Lee and other classmates, and even (for the first time ever) leads Doug and readers into his house and memento-strewn room for further reminiscing. Of course, Harry isn’t as blasé about the move as he pretends, and eyes aren’t exactly dry when he departs. But hardly is he out of sight before Doug is meeting Mohammad, a new neighbor from Syria who (along with further diversifying a cast that began as mostly white but has become increasingly multiethnic over the years) will also be starting fourth grade at summer’s end, and planning a written account of his “horrible” buddy’s exploits. Finished illustrations not seen.
A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Nov. 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-451-47963-1
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2018
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by Andrea Beaty ; illustrated by David Roberts ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 7, 2023
A much-needed reminder that kindness will always win out.
Teachers influence children profoundly.
From earliest childhood, Lila Greer, the youngest of five in a single-dad household, has been a worrier. Then the family moves. Entering second grade feels overwhelming: Nothing’s familiar, and she has no friends. But Ms. Kern, Lila’s new teacher, invites Lila to erase the chalkboard at recess and to articulate her fears. It helps that someone listens. Soon, classmates get into the act, and lonely Lila makes friends, emerges from her shell, and learns that “what ifs” have positive sides. Lila grows up, still fretting sometimes, and then becomes a new teacher who worries upon meeting her own students. But then she remembers the teacher who helped her overcome her fears and doubts years earlier. What was that marvelous, ineffable quality Ms. Kern possessed? Then Lila remembers: It was kindness! Harnessing that memory, Lila now welcomes her own “smiling young faces.” This is a sweet story that emphasizes good cheer, helpfulness, and the importance of feeling welcome and heard, no matter who you are: terrific messages, expressed in bouncy verses that scan well. The illustrations are colorfully lively. Readers will appreciate occasional displays of humorous and quirky typesetting creativity and will admire Lila’s poufy topknot, which resembles a huge ball of yarn. Lila is light-skinned, Ms. Kern is tan-skinned, and other characters are diverse.
A much-needed reminder that kindness will always win out. (author’s note) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9781419769047
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
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