Sisterhood leads to an adventure befitting a luchadora in Garza and Bermudez’s sublime sequel to Lucía the Luchadora (2017).
Donning her luchadora mask and silver cape, Lucía dives and soars in her backyard like a true luchadora. Her little sister, Gemma, tries to demonstrate some luchadora flair too, but the younger girl bumbles, tumbles, and SPLATS right on her face. Lucía thinks Gemma “always finds trouble.” When Gemma tears a hole in Lucía’s beloved mask, a devastated Lucía knows older sisters never win. Abuela, however, offers a solution. The trio head off to the mercado—which Lucía calls a “splendiferousmarket”—to find a luchadora mask for Gemma, one that’ll help her “finally act like a real luchadora.” Similar to its predecessor, this follow-up pops and snaps with jubilant glee. Garza’s buoyant wordplay and delightful characters also continue to shine. Equally, Bermudez’s vibrant, action-packed pictures epitomize pure zany fun. Inspired by the tale of Mil Máscaras, a legendary luchador, and the many masks available at the mercado, Lucía dreams of becoming the Girl of a Thousand Masks. Gemma, meanwhile, discovers her luchadora mask and sneaks off into the bustling mercado. Sensing trouble, Lucía follows. Together the luchadoras find a lost kitten and an opportunity to right a wrong. As always, Abu’s words ring true: “Remember, the best adventures are shared.”
Transcendent joy personified in a pair of rip-roaring luchadoras. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Oct. 9, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-57687-894-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: POW!
Review Posted Online: July 23, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
Categories: CHILDREN'S ACTION & ADVENTURE FICTION | CHILDREN'S FAMILY
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BOOK REVIEW
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY
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A succession of animal dads do their best to teach their young to say “Dada” in this picture-book vehicle for Fallon.
A grumpy bull says, “DADA!”; his calf moos back. A sad-looking ram insists, “DADA!”; his lamb baas back. A duck, a bee, a dog, a rabbit, a cat, a mouse, a donkey, a pig, a frog, a rooster, and a horse all fail similarly, spread by spread. A final two-spread sequence finds all of the animals arrayed across the pages, dads on the verso and children on the recto. All the text prior to this point has been either iterations of “Dada” or animal sounds in dialogue bubbles; here, narrative text states, “Now everybody get in line, let’s say it together one more time….” Upon the turn of the page, the animal dads gaze round-eyed as their young across the gutter all cry, “DADA!” (except the duckling, who says, “quack”). Ordóñez's illustrations have a bland, digital look, compositions hardly varying with the characters, although the pastel-colored backgrounds change. The punch line fails from a design standpoint, as the sudden, single-bubble chorus of “DADA” appears to be emanating from background features rather than the baby animals’ mouths (only some of which, on close inspection, appear to be open). It also fails to be funny.
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 9, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-250-00934-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
Categories: CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S FAMILY
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