by David Litchfield ; illustrated by David Litchfield ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 6, 2018
Skip this well-intended book.
Billy saves the day when he finds the only person tall enough to finish the new town mural.
The friendly citizens of Gableview are working on a mural that decorates the wall surrounding their town; it will welcome visitors from far and near. But no one can reach the top to finish the mural. Grandad has a great idea: ask the Secret Giant to help, regaling a skeptical Billy with tales of the Giant’s fantastic feats, like the time he lay across a gap in the bridge so that cars could cross or the time he rescued a fishing boat caught in a storm. The next day, Billy and his dog go for their morning walk and run smack into the Giant himself, with “legs as long as drainpipes and hands the size of tabletops.” And what is the Giant doing? Painting the wall, of course. Billy runs away in fright but regrets it, realizing the “Giant stays hidden away because people are afraid of him. He just doesn’t feel welcome.” After a little thinking, Billy and Grandad concoct an idea for a way to show the Giant he really is welcome. Litchfield uses the metaphor of a friendly giant to lead readers to understand they don’t need to be “scared of things that are different,” but in depicting the Giant as endlessly self-sacrificing and ever helpful to an ungrateful population, he sends a murky message indeed. Billy, Grandad, and the Giant all present white.
Skip this well-intended book. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Nov. 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3318-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
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by Andrea Beaty ; illustrated by David Roberts ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 7, 2023
A much-needed reminder that kindness will always win out.
Teachers influence children profoundly.
From earliest childhood, Lila Greer, the youngest of five in a single-dad household, has been a worrier. Then the family moves. Entering second grade feels overwhelming: Nothing’s familiar, and she has no friends. But Ms. Kern, Lila’s new teacher, invites Lila to erase the chalkboard at recess and to articulate her fears. It helps that someone listens. Soon, classmates get into the act, and lonely Lila makes friends, emerges from her shell, and learns that “what ifs” have positive sides. Lila grows up, still fretting sometimes, and then becomes a new teacher who worries upon meeting her own students. But then she remembers the teacher who helped her overcome her fears and doubts years earlier. What was that marvelous, ineffable quality Ms. Kern possessed? Then Lila remembers: It was kindness! Harnessing that memory, Lila now welcomes her own “smiling young faces.” This is a sweet story that emphasizes good cheer, helpfulness, and the importance of feeling welcome and heard, no matter who you are: terrific messages, expressed in bouncy verses that scan well. The illustrations are colorfully lively. Readers will appreciate occasional displays of humorous and quirky typesetting creativity and will admire Lila’s poufy topknot, which resembles a huge ball of yarn. Lila is light-skinned, Ms. Kern is tan-skinned, and other characters are diverse.
A much-needed reminder that kindness will always win out. (author’s note) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9781419769047
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
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by Maribeth Boelts ; illustrated by Noah Z. Jones ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 4, 2016
Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on...
Continuing from their acclaimed Those Shoes (2007), Boelts and Jones entwine conversations on money, motives, and morality.
This second collaboration between author and illustrator is set within an urban multicultural streetscape, where brown-skinned protagonist Ruben wishes for a bike like his friend Sergio’s. He wishes, but Ruben knows too well the pressure his family feels to prioritize the essentials. While Sergio buys a pack of football cards from Sonny’s Grocery, Ruben must buy the bread his mom wants. A familiar lady drops what Ruben believes to be a $1 bill, but picking it up, to his shock, he discovers $100! Is this Ruben’s chance to get himself the bike of his dreams? In a fateful twist, Ruben loses track of the C-note and is sent into a panic. After finally finding it nestled deep in a backpack pocket, he comes to a sense of moral clarity: “I remember how it was for me when that money that was hers—then mine—was gone.” When he returns the bill to her, the lady offers Ruben her blessing, leaving him with double-dipped emotions, “happy and mixed up, full and empty.” Readers will be pleased that there’s no reward for Ruben’s choice of integrity beyond the priceless love and warmth of a family’s care and pride.
Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on children. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6649-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
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