A heartening, uplifting story of intergenerational connection.
A boy receives lifelong encouragement from his grandfather in Cermeño’s picture book.
Orphaned as a baby, David is raised by his grandfather, Atun, who provides guidance and support. For instance, when classmates tease young David, Atun urges him to stay strong. The boy repeats his grandfather’s phrase, “El sol no se tapa con un dedo” (“You cannot cover the sun with a single finger”). As David grows up, Atun shares anecdotes, and when David is nervous to audition for the school play, Atun recounts when his own father encouraged him to apply for a job despite others’ doubts. David even seeks Atun’s advice when he’s away at college, and they remain close until Atun’s death. Though devastated, David finds “Strength From Memories,” pursues his dreams, and shares his grandfather’s wisdom with his own son. This slice-of-life tale effectively depicts how family stories are passed down, and the grandfather-grandson relationship will appeal to readers with similar family bonds. Cermeño thoughtfully incorporates how sense-memories have an everlasting impact on one’s life; for example, Atun is soothed by the scent of coffee, which reminds of happy times with his dad. Woodcock provides soft, textured paintings with warm watercolor accents. They follow the story’s events, showing David onstage, young Atun cooking, and characters embracing; the pages are also decorated with coffee splatters.
A heartening, uplifting story of intergenerational connection.Pub Date: April 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-952233-12-8
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Indie Books International
Review Posted Online: Nov. 27, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.
The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own...
The sturdy Little Blue Truck is back for his third adventure, this time delivering Christmas trees to his band of animal pals.
The truck is decked out for the season with a Christmas wreath that suggests a nose between headlights acting as eyeballs. Little Blue loads up with trees at Toad’s Trees, where five trees are marked with numbered tags. These five trees are counted and arithmetically manipulated in various ways throughout the rhyming story as they are dropped off one by one to Little Blue’s friends. The final tree is reserved for the truck’s own use at his garage home, where he is welcomed back by the tree salestoad in a neatly circular fashion. The last tree is already decorated, and Little Blue gets a surprise along with readers, as tiny lights embedded in the illustrations sparkle for a few seconds when the last page is turned. Though it’s a gimmick, it’s a pleasant surprise, and it fits with the retro atmosphere of the snowy country scenes. The short, rhyming text is accented with colored highlights, red for the animal sounds and bright green for the numerical words in the Christmas-tree countdown.
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own tree that will put a twinkle in a toddler’s eyes. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-32041-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
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