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OAKWING

Name: OAKWING
Author: E.J. Clarke
ISBN: 978-1-4814-8191-5

A FAIRY'S TALE

by E.J. Clarke ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 2, 2017

A swiftly paced debut adventure of powerful transformation and immutable family bonds.

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After falling asleep and awakening as a fairy, 11-year-old Rowan embarks on a quest to regain human form.

Since her mother vanished seven years ago, Rowan, a white girl, has managed everything for her distraught father and younger sister in their London apartment. On the anniversary of her mother’s disappearance, Rowan falls asleep feeling unloved under a weeping beech in Hyde Park and wakes up in the Fairie Realms of the Royal Parks, where she will be loved. Overwhelmed, Rowan desperately wants to go home but learns “becoming a fairy is a one-way ticket.” Only the most powerful fairy who unlocks the Heart of Oak can become human. Hoping to find the Heart of Oak, Rowan seeks out the fairy GodMother and discovers her missing mother’s been hiding in the Fairie Realms from an evil, vengeful fairy intent on destroying her. Determined to find her mother, Rowan’s ability to transform into other creatures emerges, placing her in peril. Against the atmospheric backdrop of London’s Royal Parks and a darkly dangerous, diminutive fairy world, Rowan morphs from a timid girl into a bold heroine, aided by enchanting fairy friends and assaulted by fierce fairy foes.

A swiftly paced debut adventure of powerful transformation and immutable family bonds. (map) (Fantasy. 7-11)

Pub Date: May 2, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-4814-8191-5

Page Count: 192

Publisher: Aladdin

Review Posted Online: March 5, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2017

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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LITTLE DAYMOND LEARNS TO EARN

by Daymond John ; illustrated by Nicole Miles ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 21, 2023

It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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HORRIBLE HARRY SAYS GOODBYE

From the Horrible Harry series , Vol. 37

by Suzy Kline ; illustrated by Amy Wummer ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 27, 2018

A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode.

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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)