A short but well-developed tale about facing anxiety and making friends.
A young girl confronts her fear of sleeping over at a friend’s house in this second book in a series for early readers.
Roman (Oh Susannah: It’s in the Bag, 2017, etc.) returns to the story of nearly 8-year-old Susannah Maya Logan, who faces a new problem: her friend Lola has invited her for a sleepover, but Lola’s brother, Kai, claims that the house is haunted, and Susannah is scared. She’s also reluctant to explain this (“She was a big girl now. How could she tell her mother she was afraid to stay at Lola’s house?”), setting the stage for misunderstanding and conflict. She soon learns about other children’s fears—and about adults’ tendency to use “I’m afraid” in a figurative, rather than literal, sense—and she decides to go to Lola’s house after all: “She had to do this. She had to go in there for Lola.” However, her fears endure as Kai teases her about ghosts and pulls pranks. The girls finally confront Kai with a prank of their own, and Susannah learns that the spooky noises in the house are part of a surprise that her parents and Lola have been planning. The book’s nearly 50-page length and vocabulary make it appropriate for readers near Susannah’s age, and although the fears that the characters confront—clowns, unicorns, being replaced as a best friend—may not impress adult readers, they’re given the right weight for a young audience. The book deals obliquely with issues of diversity; there’s no mention of race in the text, but the illustrations depict Lola as dark-skinned, and at another point, Susannah explains the color green to a blind friend (“When you go really fast, that’s green”). Roman ties up most of the plot threads neatly but also leaves a clear starting point for the next installment in the series. Overall, it’s a solid story with clear appeal for its intended readership.
A short but well-developed tale about facing anxiety and making friends.Pub Date: July 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-947188-13-6
Page Count: 62
Publisher: Chelshire
Review Posted Online: Sept. 11, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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