A fine introduction to a complex topic for mature-enough kids.
The team behind the 2024 Oscar-winning animated short War Is Over!: Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko translates their work into picture-book format.
Here’s an image you rarely see on the first page of a kids’ book: armed men on a battlefield. It’s Christmastime, and “the Red Jackets and the Green Coats [are] fighting,” the text explains. “No one [knows] why.” A carrier pigeon named Julia has been enlisted to transport “important orders” from the command center to a red-jacketed soldier named Winston, but the bird has another job. Helping Winston play “a secret game of chess,” Julia delivers notes containing his chess moves to a green-coated soldier, who in turn gives Julia his moves for Winston. The men’s remote chess competition animates the book’s pacifist message: In other circumstances, two enemies could be friends. Narciso’s illustrations, rendered in drab military colors, conjure no particular era, the suggestion being that the book’s message is timeless. The comically rubbery-looking faces of the largely pale-skinned soldiers help offset the grim turn the story takes, although its conclusion is hopeful. John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s 1971 peace anthem “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” inspired the short film that sparked this book—the couple’s son, Sean Ono Lennon, was involved in both projects—and the song’s lyrics are woven into the text, for the most part smoothly.
A fine introduction to a complex topic for mature-enough kids. (afterword by Sean Ono Lennon, poster reproduction, photograph) (Picture book. 6-12)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9798217040094
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for...
A gentle voice and familiar pitfalls characterize this tale of a boy navigating the risky road to responsibility.
Gavin is new to his neighborhood and Carver Elementary. He likes his new friend, Richard, and has a typically contentious relationship with his older sister, Danielle. When Gavin’s desire to impress Richard sets off a disastrous chain of events, the boy struggles to evade responsibility for his actions. “After all, it isn’t his fault that Danielle’s snow globe got broken. Sure, he shouldn’t have been in her room—but then, she shouldn’t be keeping candy in her room to tempt him. Anybody would be tempted. Anybody!” opines Gavin once he learns the punishment for his crime. While Gavin has a charming Everyboy quality, and his aversion to Aunt Myrtle’s yapping little dog rings true, little about Gavin distinguishes him from other trouble-prone protagonists. He is, regrettably, forgettable. Coretta Scott King Honor winner English (Francie, 1999) is a teacher whose storytelling usually benefits from her day job. Unfortunately, the pizzazz of classroom chaos is largely absent from this series opener.
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for subsequent volumes. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: Dec. 17, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-547-97044-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant.
Robot Roz undertakes an unusual ocean journey to save her adopted island home in this third series entry.
When a poison tide flowing across the ocean threatens their island, Roz works with the resident creatures to ensure that they will have clean water, but the destruction of vegetation and crowding of habitats jeopardize everyone’s survival. Brown’s tale of environmental depredation and turmoil is by turns poignant, graceful, endearing, and inspiring, with his (mostly) gentle robot protagonist at its heart. Though Roz is different from the creatures she lives with or encounters—including her son, Brightbill the goose, and his new mate, Glimmerwing—she makes connections through her versatile communication abilities and her desire to understand and help others. When Roz accidentally discovers that the replacement body given to her by Dr. Molovo is waterproof, she sets out to seek help and discovers the human-engineered source of the toxic tide. Brown’s rich descriptions of undersea landscapes, entertaining conversations between Roz and wild creatures, and concise yet powerful explanations of the effect of the poison tide on the ecology of the island are superb. Simple, spare illustrations offer just enough glimpses of Roz and her surroundings to spark the imagination. The climactic confrontation pits oceangoing mammals, seabirds, fish, and even zooplankton against hardware and technology in a nicely choreographed battle. But it is Roz’s heroism and peacemaking that save the day.
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780316669412
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
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