A fun, if slightly uneven, never-give-up story for modern kids.
In Boock’s children’s book, a young girl tries to discover her greatest talent.
Six-year-old Kinzie McMillan's class has a talent show coming up, and everyone has something to do for it—except her. Desperate to take home a trophy, she tries hard to find her own special skill with the help of her older sister, Sidney; her best friend, Cori; her mom and dad; and a magician on “ViewTube.” After reading an article about inventors in Whiz Kidz magazine, Kinzie uses an inventing process to look for her talent; the steps are “ask,” “imagine,” “plan,” “create,” “test,” and “improve.” Finally, the girl realizes that being an inventor can be a talent in itself. The question is, can she show other kids how they can invent things, too? Kinzie decides that recording a ViewTube video is the best way to teach other children. Kinzie begins by coming up with a problem that needs solving (“how to freshen your dog’s smelly breath”) and explains each step. When the invention initially fails, Kinzie is unperturbed, concluding that an integral part of the inventor’s process is Step 6: “improve.” She plays her video for the talent competition, and it’s a hit; fittingly, Kinzie wins an award for originality. Boock tells the story in Kinzie’s voice, making use of zesty slang, such as “abso-tootly!” and “shootie patootie!” which evokes the youngster’s delightful quirkiness and sense of humor. However, although the use of social media is handled delicately—Kinzie’s mom supervises her ViewTube usage—Kinzie essentially becomes just another ViewTuber by the end of the story (“I made my voice all loud and excited like the other ViewTubers do”), which seems to fly in the face of finding one’s individuality. Hider’s simple, grayscale cartoon images mostly focus on Kinzie, who has pale skin, glasses, and curly hair, and accurately reflect the events in the text as they happen.
A fun, if slightly uneven, never-give-up story for modern kids.Pub Date: Jan. 17, 2020
ISBN: 9781951546007
Page Count: 82
Publisher: Indigo Books LLC
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode.
A long-running series reaches its closing chapters.
Having, as Kline notes in her warm valedictory acknowledgements, taken 30 years to get through second and third grade, Harry Spooger is overdue to move on—but not just into fourth grade, it turns out, as his family is moving to another town as soon as the school year ends. The news leaves his best friend, narrator “Dougo,” devastated…particularly as Harry doesn’t seem all that fussed about it. With series fans in mind, the author takes Harry through a sort of last-day-of-school farewell tour. From his desk he pulls a burned hot dog and other items that featured in past episodes, says goodbye to Song Lee and other classmates, and even (for the first time ever) leads Doug and readers into his house and memento-strewn room for further reminiscing. Of course, Harry isn’t as blasé about the move as he pretends, and eyes aren’t exactly dry when he departs. But hardly is he out of sight before Doug is meeting Mohammad, a new neighbor from Syria who (along with further diversifying a cast that began as mostly white but has become increasingly multiethnic over the years) will also be starting fourth grade at summer’s end, and planning a written account of his “horrible” buddy’s exploits. Finished illustrations not seen.
A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Nov. 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-451-47963-1
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf