A worthwhile, if sometimes heavy-handed, primer on setting boundaries, but the storytelling feels rote.
The earnest tale of a girl who just can’t say no.
Ellie is a people-pleaser—the thought of disappointing others petrifies her. When faced with the choice of cancelling her own plans or telling a friend she can’t do an activity, she’ll always opt in favor of the friend. Caring people in Ellie’s life begin to notice her self-sabotaging behavior. There’s Rosie, a new girl at school, who notices that Ellie’s people-pleasing is making her unhappy. There’s Ellie’s mom, who knows Ellie would rather paint than put her plans on pause for her blithely oblivious friend Sam. Only when Ellie has a talk with her parents does she own up to her problem and begin conveying her true feelings and preferences. Authorial advice prefaces the story, providing useful context, but some of it is delivered with too broad a brush. For example, unable to dole out much more than generalities, Flanagan Burns urges child readers to ditch toxic friendships and “find friends who lift you up, not bring you own. Find friends who like you just the way you are.” Would that it were so simple. The writing is straightforward and serviceable. Simple illustrations in earth colors depict Ellie as White, Rosie as Black, and other classmates as racially diverse.
A worthwhile, if sometimes heavy-handed, primer on setting boundaries, but the storytelling feels rote. (Chapter book. 7-10)Pub Date: May 3, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-4338-3924-5
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Magination/American Psychological Association
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2022
An interesting, informative introduction to an unknown woman trailblazer.
Jo wanted to become a doctor, quite uncommon for a girl in late-19th-century America.
Jo had her opportunity when doctors Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell opened a medical school for women. When she graduated, she opened a practice in New York City with a woman colleague, Florence, but few patients came. Jo became a health inspector for the city and was assigned to Hell’s Kitchen, a poor, crowded immigrant neighborhood where there was a high death rate among babies and young children. Dr. Jo found practical solutions to many problems, using her official capacity to implement them. She established a requirement that midwives be trained and licensed and assigned visiting nurses to new mothers. She organized milk stations, designed safe containers for silver nitrate eyedrops for newborns, and designed safe infant clothing that allowed movement and airflow. Kulling employs accessible language and follows a logical sequence of events to provide readers with an understanding of Baker’s strength of character. Swaney’s watercolor, gouache, and colored-pencil illustrations carefully complement the events and settings of the text. Baker and Florence are white, and the people of Hell’s Kitchen are depicted in a variety of skin tones, but otherwise all the faces are the same with little indication of emotion, just dots for eyes and little swoops for smiles.
An interesting, informative introduction to an unknown woman trailblazer. (afterword, sources, websites) (Picture book/biography. 7-9)Pub Date: Oct. 9, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-101-91789-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
A wordy but useful introduction to a popular Washington museum that has an engaging heroine.
A young girl has fun exploring the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in this illustrated children's book.
Simone is thrilled when her mother decides to take her to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C, where she lives. Before they leave home, her mother asks if she remembers how to behave in a museum, and she answers quickly and correctly: “Stay near you at all times, lower my voice when speaking, greet the workers, and keep my hands to myself.” After taking a Metrobus to their destination, Simone marvels at the large size of the museum and learns that it celebrates “the resilience and strength of African Americans.” When her mother explains that “families were separated during slavery,” however, Simone misses her father and her brother, Scott, both of whom stayed home, so after she and her mother enjoy an outdoor lunch at a cafe, they join their male family members at Anacostia Park and talk about the day. At times, the book relies too much on telling instead of showing: It asserts, for example, that the museum honors the “resilience” of African Americans without showing an exhibit or giving examples that would have enabled its youthful readers to see what that word means (especially if they’re too young to know what “resilience” is). The text also needlessly mentions some details shown repeatedly via the illustrations (as when Simone speaks of “my red sneakers and leggings”). Still, Marie’s colorful illustrations are nicely detailed, enhancing the adventures of family members who have skin tones in varied shades of brown, and they depict not just the museum, but spots such as the National Mall and the Anacostia River. As for the museum itself, as Simone observes, it’s “huuuuugggggge!” This book, by the author of Geoengineering: Governance and Technology (2013), would no doubt make a first visit more enjoyable and less intimidating for many children.
A wordy but useful introduction to a popular Washington museum that has an engaging heroine.Pub Date: April 13, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-9995685-0-7
Page Count: 38
Publisher: Mayhew
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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