A thoughtful, insightful character study that gently urges young readers to choose joy.
Hortensia is content with her perfectly ordered life.
Daisies grow in a straight line; paintings hang at the correct height. Her alarm clock rings at exactly the same time each morning, and she eats the same carefully measured breakfast. The dog, aptly named Starchy, is walked for the same duration and distance daily. Same bus, same seat, same number of birds fed at the park, same radio program at the same time, and bedtime at exactly the right moment. She has no desire for anything to change. But one morning her alarm clock rings 14 minutes late and sets off a series of considerably disturbing changes. She eats a quick breakfast and finds it delicious. Starchy makes a friend on his shorter walk. She misses her bus, rents a bike, and enjoys the ride. She finds herself noticing and loving the beauty around her and opening her heart to change and joy. Losing nothing in translation, the text in this Spanish import maintains a stiffness of language that perfectly reflects Hortensia’s rigidity, with later syntax becoming more expansive as she opens up to new experiences. Cerro illustrates her world with intense color, and his portraits of her undergo subtle changes. The glasses are still perched at the edge of her nose, but she moves a bit more easily; her expressions soften, and her lips curve in the slightest of smiles as she now sees a world that features infinite possibilities.
A thoughtful, insightful character study that gently urges young readers to choose joy. (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: March 15, 2021
ISBN: 978-84-18302-13-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Cuento de Luz
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2021
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
A charming friendship story and great setup for future books.
Curious about the Big Wide World outside his Sasquatch community, Hugo makes a friend who is of it.
Sasquatch Hugo’s bedroom is inside a cave and possesses the charming feature of a small stream running through it that he can sail his little toy boat on. It’s cool, but he yearns to see the Big Wide World. When he asks his smart friend Gigi if a Sasquatch might become a sailor, she says it’s possible but would be difficult—the primary rule of their people is to not be seen by Humans. Then, in everyone’s favorite Hide and Go Sneak class, which is held outside, a Human appears; Hugo laughs at the sight, drawing Human attention in a taboo-breaking mistake. Shortly after, Hugo’s toy boat floats into the cave with a Human toy—soon, it’s facilitating a pen-pal–type relationship that’s derailed when Hugo confesses to being a Sasquatch and Human Boone, a budding cryptozoologist, doesn’t believe him. How Hugo and Boone resolve this misapprehension and become friends in a joint search for the Ogopogo concludes this series opener. Potter keeps the third-person narrative tightly focused on Hugo’s perspective, and the details she uses to flesh out the Sasquatch world are delightfully playful. Sala’s drawings depict a homey Sasquatch cavern community, Boone as a freckled, white boy, and Hugo as a hairily benevolent behemoth.
A charming friendship story and great setup for future books. (final art unseen) (Fantasy. 5-9)Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2859-4
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018
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