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213 VALENTINES

Name: 213 VALENTINES
Author: Barbara Cohen
ISBN: 0-8050-1536-1

by Barbara Cohen & illustrated by Will Clay ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1991

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Reluctantly bused to a program for gifted children, Wade is one of two black kids in his fourth grade; the other is Dink, girl and known nerd. Neither is made particularly welcome by the more privileged children in their new class, most of whom already know each other; even the teacher lacks warmth, and is oblivious to the social and economic pressures exerted by traditional Halloween or Valentine's celebrations. Though Wade is soon respected as a math whiz, he's so busy building defenses that he rejects all tentative proffers of friendship; he does sit with Dink at lunch to avoid being alone. Since Valentine's Day promises to be especially painful—he's sure that only the person who draws his name will give him a card—he decides to send masses of them to himself. Fortunately, Dink's patient courtesy and help make him reconsider; when the day comes, he generously distributes his valentines to family, class, and the pediatric ward where his aunt works—plus 50 to a delighted Dink. Neither preaching nor sugar coating, Cohen tells her story with practiced ease. Her characterizations may be not deep, but they're realistic and individual; wondering whether Ward will really carry through with his misguided attempt to save face holds interest to the end. Good additional fare. (Fiction. 7-10)*justify no*

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1991

ISBN: 0-8050-1536-1

Page Count: 54

Publisher: Henry Holt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1991

Categories:

CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS

- BOOK REVIEW
MAKE A WISH, MOLLY
by Barbara Cohen & illustrated by Jan Naimo Jones

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MONSTER MATH

by Anne Miranda & illustrated by Anne Miranda ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 1999

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Miranda’s book counts the monsters gathering at a birthday party, while a simple rhyming text keeps the tally and surveys the action: “Seven starved monsters are licking the dishes./Eight blow out candles and make birthday wishes.” The counting proceeds to ten, then by tens to fifty, then gradually returns to one, which makes the monster’s mother, a purple pin-headed octopus, very happy. The book is surprisingly effective due to Powell’s artwork; the color has texture and density, as if it were poured onto the page, but the real attention-getter is the singularity of every monster attendee. They are highly individual and, therefore, eminently countable. As the numbers start crawling upward, it is both fun and a challenge to try to recognize monsters who have appeared in previous pages, or to attempt to stay focused when counting the swirling or bunched creatures. The story has glints of humor, and in combination with the illustrations is a grand addition to the counting shelf. (Picture book. 3-8)

Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1999

ISBN: 0-15-201835-2

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1999

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

- BOOK REVIEW
TANGLED
by Anne Miranda ; illustrated by Eric Comstock

- BOOK REVIEW
VROOM, CHUGGA, VROOM-VROOM
by Anne Miranda & illustrated by David Murphy

- BOOK REVIEW
TO MARKET, TO MARKET
by Anne Miranda & illustrated by Janet Stevens

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CHRISTMAS TAPESTRY

by Patricia Polacco & illustrated by Patricia Polacco ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2002

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This longer Christmas story centers on an embroidered tapestry purchased to hang in a church for the Christmas Eve service. As with many of her works, Polacco (When Lightning Comes in a Jar, p. 665, etc.) sets her story in Michigan, this time in wintry Detroit. Young Jonathan resents his family’s recent move from Tennessee to where his minister father has been reassigned to renovate an old church and revive its congregation. Through a series of Dickensian trials and coincidences, the tapestry is purchased to cover some water damage to a church wall, and an elderly Jewish woman (and Holocaust survivor) whom the family has befriended recognizes the tapestry as the one she made in pre-WWII Germany for her wedding ceremony. In an ending worthy of O. Henry, the repairman who arrives on Christmas Eve to inspect the water damage turns out to be the woman’s long-lost husband (each thought the other had died in the Holocaust), and the devoted couple is reunited. Polacco succeeds as always with her watercolor-and-pencil illustrations in creating unique, expressive characters who seem to have real lives in their snowy city streets, cozy living rooms, and busy church. The gentle, reassuring message, suggested to Jonathan by his kindly father, is that “the universe unfolds as it should,” even when we don’t understand the pattern of the tapestry. (Picture book. 7-10)