A poignant generational story of legacy, creativity, and the ways traditions grow.
A rich tapestry of family identity is passed down through an heirloom quilt.
It all begins with the narrator’s great-great-grandmother, who starts a quilting project with the idea that each woman in the family would add a square featuring a meaningful image that reflects her personality or passions. The blanket travels through time and place as the story unfolds, introducing the women and their contributions: a beloved pet dog for the narrator’s great-grandmother, a pink seashell for a beachcombing grandmother, tomatoes for Aunt Lia, who loves to garden, and a clay pot for the narrator’s mother, a ceramic artist. Readers eventually learn that the narrator is Mateo, his mother’s only child and the next in line to inherit the quilt. Eager to include him in the tradition, his mother encourages him to sew his own square. Mateo chooses to stitch a picture of his baby daughter, leaving a blank spot beside it for her future contribution. A new tradition is born, one that allows the family to embrace change while still paying tribute to the past. Lushly textured artwork echoes the artistry of the quilt itself, adding depth and energy to each page. An illustrated family tree helps readers trace the lineage of the quilters leading up to Mateo and beyond. Acevedo’s tender story, translated from Spanish, celebrates the evolving nature of familial customs and the powerful ways we honor our heritage. Mateo and his family are pale-skinned.
A poignant generational story of legacy, creativity, and the ways traditions grow. (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9788410438033
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Cuento de Luz
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.
How to raise money for a coveted poster: put your friends to work!
John, founder of the FUBU fashion line and a Shark Tank venture capitalist, offers a self-referential blueprint for financial success. Having only half of the $10 he needs for a Minka J poster, Daymond forks over $1 to buy a plain T-shirt, paints a picture of the pop star on it, sells it for $5, and uses all of his cash to buy nine more shirts. Then he recruits three friends to decorate them with his design and help sell them for an unspecified amount (from a conveniently free and empty street-fair booth) until they’re gone. The enterprising entrepreneur reimburses himself for the shirts and splits the remaining proceeds, which leaves him with enough for that poster as well as a “brand-new business book,” while his friends express other fiscal strategies: saving their share, spending it all on new art supplies, or donating part and buying a (math) book with the rest. (In a closing summation, the author also suggests investing in stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrency.) Though Miles cranks up the visual energy in her sparsely detailed illustrations by incorporating bright colors and lots of greenbacks, the actual advice feels a bit vague. Daymond is Black; most of the cast are people of color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-56727-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted...
Reinvention is the name of the game for two blobs of clay.
A blue-eyed gray blob and a brown-eyed brown blob sit side by side, unsure as to what’s going to happen next. The gray anticipates an adventure, while the brown appears apprehensive. A pair of hands descends, and soon, amid a flurry of squishing and prodding and poking and sculpting, a handsome gray wolf and a stately brown owl emerge. The hands disappear, leaving the friends to their own devices. The owl is pleased, but the wolf convinces it that the best is yet to come. An ear pulled here and an extra eye placed there, and before you can shake a carving stick, a spurt of frenetic self-exploration—expressed as a tangled black scribble—reveals a succession of smug hybrid beasts. After all, the opportunity to become a “pig-e-phant” doesn’t come around every day. But the sound of approaching footsteps panics the pair of Picassos. How are they going to “fix [them]selves” on time? Soon a hippopotamus and peacock are staring bug-eyed at a returning pair of astonished hands. The creative naiveté of the “clay mates” is perfectly captured by Petty’s feisty, spot-on dialogue: “This was your idea…and it was a BAD one.” Eldridge’s endearing sculpted images are photographed against the stark white background of an artist’s work table to great effect.
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted fun of their own . (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 20, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-316-30311-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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