LOLA AND I

Name: LOLA AND I
Author: Chiara Valentina Segré
ISBN: 978-1-55455-363-1

by Chiara Valentina Segré ; translated by Chiara Valentina Segré ; illustrated by Paolo Domeniconi ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 1, 2015

A truly inclusive, heartfelt (guide) dog tale.

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A picture book honored internationally for its depiction of disability portrays the friendship between a girl and her dog.

Lola, says the narrator, is her best friend, even if they don't always agree. When they met, Lola was ill and afraid to go outside, trembling at the sound of cars. But with patience, they could explore more and more together. Domeniconi's warm, soft-focus illustrations are inviting as the pair shop in an Italian city, have a snack in the park, go tobogganing, and even have their portrait painted at the seashore. Such touches as the televised black-and-white movie glimpsed through their window are casually comforting. The narrator's fond descriptions of Lola running on the beach and becoming entangled in many-textured clothes imply that Lola, "that little scoundrel," is the black Lab in the pictures. Not until a luminous hand reaches out in a two-page spread of misty blue-blackness does the narrator explain: Lola, blinded in a car accident five years ago, is her human. She, Star, is Lola's guide dog. Though the illustrations offer clues as to who's who, the clues' likely invisibility to blind readers lends this revelation additional surprise and emphasizes Segré's equally strong text. Composed of vivid, sight-free sensory details, the text's parallel treatment of Star and Lola symbolizes the close bond between dog and human, felt rather than seen.

A truly inclusive, heartfelt (guide) dog tale. (Picture book. 6-8)

Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-55455-363-1

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Fitzhenry & Whiteside

Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2015

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
OSCAR THE GUARDIAN CAT
by Chiara Valentina Segré ; illustrated by Paolo Domeniconi

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WHAT THE ROAD SAID

by Cleo Wade ; illustrated by Lucie de Moyencourt ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 23, 2021

Inspiration, shrink wrapped.

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From an artist, poet, and Instagram celebrity, a pep talk for all who question where a new road might lead.

Opening by asking readers, “Have you ever wanted to go in a different direction,” the unnamed narrator describes having such a feeling and then witnessing the appearance of a new road “almost as if it were magic.” “Where do you lead?” the narrator asks. The Road’s twice-iterated response—“Be a leader and find out”—bookends a dialogue in which a traveler’s anxieties are answered by platitudes. “What if I fall?” worries the narrator in a stylized, faux hand-lettered type Wade’s Instagram followers will recognize. The Road’s dialogue and the narration are set in a chunky, sans-serif type with no quotation marks, so the one flows into the other confusingly. “Everyone falls at some point, said the Road. / But I will always be there when you land.” Narrator: “What if the world around us is filled with hate?” Road: “Lead it to love.” Narrator: “What if I feel stuck?” Road: “Keep going.” De Moyencourt illustrates this colloquy with luminous scenes of a small, brown-skinned child, face turned away from viewers so all they see is a mop of blond curls. The child steps into an urban mural, walks along a winding country road through broad rural landscapes and scary woods, climbs a rugged metaphorical mountain, then comes to stand at last, Little Prince–like, on a tiny blue and green planet. Wade’s closing claim that her message isn’t meant just for children is likely superfluous…in fact, forget the just.

Inspiration, shrink wrapped. (Picture book. 6-8, adult)

Pub Date: March 23, 2021

ISBN: 978-1-250-26949-2

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Review Posted Online: April 7, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

THE ONE AND ONLY SPARKELLA AND THE BIG LIE

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THE ONE AND ONLY SPARKELLA AND THE BIG LIE

From the Sparkella series , Vol. 3

by Channing Tatum ; illustrated by Kim Barnes ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 30, 2023

An awesome-tastic invitation to have or share thoughts about bad and better choices.

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Actor Tatum’s effervescent heroine steals a friend’s toy and then lies about it.

Thrilled about an upcoming play date with new classmate Wyatt, Sparkella considers her own sparkly stuffies, games, and accessories and silently decides that he’d be more interested in her friend Tam’s remote-controlled minicar. While she and Tam are playing together, Sparkella takes the car when Tam isn’t looking. Tam melts down at school the next day, and Sparkella, seeing her “bestest friend” losing her sparkle, feels “icky, oogy, and blech.” And when Wyatt comes over, he turns out to be far more entranced by glittery goods than some old car. When Sparkella yells at him—“WYATT, YOU HAVE TO PLAY WITH THIS CAR RIGHT NOW!”—her dad overhears and asks where the toy came from…and along with being a thief, Sparkella turns out to be the worst. Liar. Ever. She eventually confesses (her dad forgives her), apologizes (ditto Wyatt and even Tam), and goes on to take part in a three-way play date/sparklefest. Her absolution may come with unlikely ease, but it’s comfortingly reassuring, and her model single dad does lay down a solid parental foundation by allowing that everyone makes mistakes and stressing that she is “never going to be punished for telling the truth in this house.” He and Sparkella present White, a previous entry cued brown-skinned Tam as Asian, and Wyatt has brown skin in Barnes’ candy-hued pictures. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

An awesome-tastic invitation to have or share thoughts about bad and better choices. (Picture book. 6-8)