by Christina Booth ; illustrated by Christina Booth ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 6, 2021
Beautifully tender, moving, and even hopeful.
A child hears the far-off song of a right whale.
It seems to be a dream at first, because no one else can hear it. It is a haunting sound that grows a bit closer each day, sometimes joyful but more often mournful and sad. The sounds become a saga of the whale’s darkest experiences, or possibly a history of the entire species. After several mornings, the child goes to the beach in the early light and hears the whale plead to know why she was hunted and is now unable to come home. With an aching heart and feeling the creature’s pain, this young human can only whisper a soft apology for the deeds of others. The whale heads out to deeper waters, but as more people gather, listening and waiting, she returns with a baby, and this time her call is filled with hope. The child, who presents White, narrates in a tender and gentle tone, addressing readers as companions. The whale’s tales are depicted as small, gray drawings of whales, whaling ships, hunters, harpoons, and death, all placed within the more colorful, large-scale illustrations of the whale at sea or child at home or at the shore. Although the whale’s species is not named in the text, a double-page spread at the conclusion of the tale provides a great deal of information about right whales. (This is an Australian import, suggesting the whale is a southern right whale.)
Beautifully tender, moving, and even hopeful. (Picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: April 6, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7331212-8-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Blue Dot Kids Press
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
Share your opinion of this book
by Suzy Kline ; illustrated by Amy Wummer ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 27, 2018
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
Share your opinion of this book
More by Suzy Kline
BOOK REVIEW
by Suzy Kline & illustrated by Sami Sweeten
BOOK REVIEW
by Suzy Kline & illustrated by Frank Remkiewicz
BOOK REVIEW
by Suzy Kline & illustrated by Frank Remkiewicz
by Shelley Johannes ; illustrated by Shelley Johannes ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 19, 2017
A kind child in a book for middle-grade readers? There’s no downside to that.
Beatrice Zinker is a kinder, gentler Judy Moody.
Beatrice doesn’t want to be fit in a box. Her first word was “WOW,” not “Mom.” She does her best thinking upside down and prefers to dress like a ninja. Like Judy Moody, she has patient parents and a somewhat annoying younger brother. (She also has a perfectly ordinary older sister.) Beatrice spends all summer planning a top-secret spy operation complete with secret codes and a secret language (pig Latin). But on the first day of third grade, her best friend, Lenny (short for Eleanor), shows up in a dress, with a new friend who wants to play veterinarian at recess. Beatrice, essentially a kind if somewhat quirky kid, struggles to see the upside of the situation and ends up with two friends instead of one. Line drawings on almost every spread add to the humor and make the book accessible to readers who might otherwise balk at its 160 pages. Thankfully, the rhymes in the text do not continue past the first chapter. Children will enjoy the frequent puns and Beatrice’s preference for climbing trees and hanging upside down. The story drifts dangerously close to pedantry when Beatrice asks for advice from a grandmotherly neighbor but is saved by likable characters and upside-down cake. Beatrice seems to be white; Lenny’s surname, Santos, suggests that she may be Latina; their school is a diverse one.
A kind child in a book for middle-grade readers? There’s no downside to that. (Fiction. 6-10)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4847-6738-2
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
Share your opinion of this book
More In The Series
by Shelley Johannes ; illustrated by Shelley Johannes
More by Shelley Johannes
BOOK REVIEW
by Shelley Johannes ; illustrated by Shelley Johannes
BOOK REVIEW
by Shelley Johannes ; illustrated by Shelley Johannes
BOOK REVIEW
by Shelley Johannes ; illustrated by Shelley Johannes
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.