With its fun illustrations, this story may inspire young readers to try a little kindness.
A little girl’s small act of kindness energizes her town into doing the same—with a beautiful, cumulative impact.
After a terrible storm washes “thousands of sea stars” onto the beach, a brown-skinned child with three teal pigtails gets to work. One at a time, the child returns starfish to the ocean, despite the daunting number of stranded creatures. An elderly, White passerby notices her project, and asks, “What’s the point? You won’t be able to save them all.” The intrepid helper’s response sets the tone for the rest of the story: After plunking a single starfish back into the waves, she replies, “Of course I can’t save them all….But I saved that one, didn’t I?” This single show of generosity creates a chain reaction of freshly galvanized townspeople, encouraging one another to help out wherever they can—no matter how seemingly small the overall impact. Examples of these kindnesses include adopting a dog from a shelter full of strays in need of homes after the storm; cleaning up storm debris from a neighbor’s yard, though the storm trashed the entire block; and donating Tooth Fairy funds “to charity.” By the time the starfish-rescuing girl returns to the beach to take up her small mission again, she finds many of her neighbors already on the shore, saving sea stars and picking up litter. In a crowded market of picture books extolling random acts of kindness, illustrator Juanita’s charming images set this story apart. The details of each townsperson’s personality and identity sparkle on the pages, including disabled, Black, queer, and gender-nonconforming characters. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at 20.3% of actual size.)
With its fun illustrations, this story may inspire young readers to try a little kindness. (Picture book. 5-10)Pub Date: April 27, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4197-4226-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
A jam-packed opener sure to satisfy lovers of the princess genre.
Ice princess Lina must navigate family and school in this early chapter read.
The family picnic is today. This is not a typical gathering, since Lina’s maternal relatives are a royal family of Windtamers who have power over the weather and live in castles floating on clouds. Lina herself is mixed race, with black hair and a tan complexion like her Asian-presenting mother’s; her Groundling father appears to be a white human. While making a grand entrance at the castle of her grandfather, the North Wind, she fails to successfully ride a gust of wind and crashes in front of her entire family. This prompts her stern grandfather to ask that Lina move in with him so he can teach her to control her powers. Desperate to avoid this, Lina and her friend Claudia, who is black, get Lina accepted at the Hilltop Science and Arts Academy. Lina’s parents allow her to go as long as she does lessons with grandpa on Saturdays. However, fitting in at a Groundling school is rough, especially when your powers start freak winter storms! With the story unfurling in diary format, bright-pink–highlighted grayscale illustrations help move the plot along. There are slight gaps in the storytelling and the pacing is occasionally uneven, but Lina is full of spunk and promotes self-acceptance.
A jam-packed opener sure to satisfy lovers of the princess genre. (Fantasy. 5-8)Pub Date: June 25, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-35393-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode.
A long-running series reaches its closing chapters.
Having, as Kline notes in her warm valedictory acknowledgements, taken 30 years to get through second and third grade, Harry Spooger is overdue to move on—but not just into fourth grade, it turns out, as his family is moving to another town as soon as the school year ends. The news leaves his best friend, narrator “Dougo,” devastated…particularly as Harry doesn’t seem all that fussed about it. With series fans in mind, the author takes Harry through a sort of last-day-of-school farewell tour. From his desk he pulls a burned hot dog and other items that featured in past episodes, says goodbye to Song Lee and other classmates, and even (for the first time ever) leads Doug and readers into his house and memento-strewn room for further reminiscing. Of course, Harry isn’t as blasé about the move as he pretends, and eyes aren’t exactly dry when he departs. But hardly is he out of sight before Doug is meeting Mohammad, a new neighbor from Syria who (along with further diversifying a cast that began as mostly white but has become increasingly multiethnic over the years) will also be starting fourth grade at summer’s end, and planning a written account of his “horrible” buddy’s exploits. Finished illustrations not seen.
A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Nov. 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-451-47963-1
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2018
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