A calm, effective model for stating—and listening to—needs.
A young girl prefers solitude and quiet activities to parties.
Violet likes to hunker in a makeshift tent to write and illustrate comic books, and she often wears her purple headphones around the house. But even though she enjoys cake and games, Violet definitely does not like parties. Large groups of people make her so uncomfortable that she has adverse physical reactions, like hot ears and stomachaches. If she must attend a party, Violet imagines she is a different kind of animal that can better cope with these feelings, like a shark with no external ears to get heated. The character’s preferences and reactions mirror those of someone with autism, social anxiety, and/or sensory-processing sensitivity. The story’s climax comes before the Shrink family reunion, a particularly big party, when Violent and her dad have an open discussion about her feelings. Violet states outright, “I don’t like parties,” along with certain other things, adding, “I don’t think I ever will.” Her dad listens, and when the reunion occurs, readers see a compromise: Violet brings her headphones and comic books, and she eats dessert under the table. Mok’s illustrations are in subdued hues, with a predominantly purple, green, and gray palette that pairs well with the dark purple print. Careful lines add detail and depth while giving the perception of a tactile, orderly calm. Among a multiracial cast including the extended family, Violet and her dad, both bespectacled, possess the white skin tone of paper and appear to be of Asian heritage.
A calm, effective model for stating—and listening to—needs. (Picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: March 3, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-77306-205-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
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
A funny and timely primer for budding activists.
Problems are afoot at Emily Dickinson Elementary School, and it’s up to Bea Garcia to gather the troops and fight.
Bea Garcia and her best friend, Judith Einstein, sit every day under the 250-year-old oak tree in their schoolyard and imagine a face in its trunk. They name it “Emily” after their favorite American poet. Bea loves to draw both real and imagined pictures of their favorite place—the squirrels in the tree, the branches that reach for the sky, the view from the canopy even though she’s never climbed that high. Until the day a problem boy does climb that high, pelting the kids with acorns and then getting stuck. Bert causes such a scene that the school board declares Emily a nuisance and decides to chop it down. Bea and Einstein rally their friends with environmental facts, poetry, and artwork to try to convince the adults in their lives to change their minds. Bea must enlist Bert if she wants her plan to succeed. Can she use her imagination and Bert’s love of monsters to get him in line? In Bea’s fourth outing, Zemke gently encourages her protagonist to grow from an artist into an activist. Her energy and passion spill from both her narration and her frequent cartoons, which humorously extend the text. Spanish-speaking Bea’s Latinx, Einstein and Bert present white, and their classmates are diverse.
A funny and timely primer for budding activists. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 6-9)Pub Date: May 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-7352-2941-9
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2019
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