This engaging holiday tale gives children—like the protagonist—a chance to investigate their own privilege.
In this picture book from the team of Cummings and Mosley (This Is Earth, 2019), a boy accidentally receives a letter for Santa and discovers the real Christmas spirit.
Nick Saint, a boy with brown skin and a flattop haircut, is mostly interested in playing video games. He’s frustrated when the postal carrier mistakenly delivers a letter addressed to Santa rather than his new video game. But the letter begins to show Nick a new world. One of his classmates, Cooper, has lost his home, and he asks Santa for a new job for his mother and a truck for his brother. Nick realizes that he has so much more than others: “Never did it cross Nick’s mind that every child in his school did not have a home or even, video games to play.” He tries to find a way to help Cooper, and although the solution comes a bit too easily, Nick’s transformation from a child concerned with material things to a kid who wants to help others rings true. Cummings’ heavy use of untagged dialogue may leave some readers puzzled, but the interactions between Nick and his mom are authentic, and his parents’ support is admirable. Mosley’s textured cartoon illustrations, which feature painterly backgrounds, ground the story beautifully.
This engaging holiday tale gives children—like the protagonist—a chance to investigate their own privilege.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-1-951218-20-1
Page Count: -
Publisher: Make A Way Media, LLC
Review Posted Online: Nov. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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