A powerful anti-war story in a modern setting.
In Gaza, where zoo animals and children share a difficult life, a zookeeper nourishes children’s dreams by painting stripes on a donkey to stand in for a zebra.
Basing her story on an actual event, widely publicized in 2009, Williams tells it from the point of view of the donkey, who wants to make needy, frightened children happy. She introduces but does not flesh out two child characters—thoughtful Wattan and sad Sumood—and “Moody,” the sympathetic zookeeper. By keeping the focus on the donkey, called Hurry, she distances readers just enough to keep the children’s plight from being unbearable. Illustrator Quraishi adds a light touch by using a jointed wood-and-elastic-cord toy for his donkey/zebra. His digitally combined mixed-media images are made from photographs, watercolor, marker and probably more. An extensive afterword offers adult readers facts behind the story of this “dry and lonely land,” where the severe restrictions on the movement of people and goods have created a virtual prison, with inadequate power or water and constant fear of military attack; it does not go on to document the ultimate closure of the zoo. The author keeps this description evenhanded, laying blame for Gaza’s problems on both sides.
A powerful anti-war story in a modern setting. (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-60980-589-0
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Triangle Square Books for Young Readers
Review Posted Online: July 28, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2014
An all-day sugar rush, putting the “fun” back into, er, education.
A young visionary describes his ideal school: “Perfectly planned and impeccably clean. / On a scale, 1 to 10, it’s more like 15!”
In keeping with the self-indulgently fanciful lines of If I Built a Car (2005) and If I Built a House (2012), young Jack outlines in Seussian rhyme a shiny, bright, futuristic facility in which students are swept to open-roofed classes in clear tubes, there are no tests but lots of field trips, and art, music, and science are afterthoughts next to the huge and awesome gym, playground, and lunchroom. A robot and lots of cute puppies (including one in a wheeled cart) greet students at the door, robotically made-to-order lunches range from “PB & jelly to squid, lightly seared,” and the library’s books are all animated popups rather than the “everyday regular” sorts. There are no guards to be seen in the spacious hallways—hardly any adults at all, come to that—and the sparse coed student body features light- and dark-skinned figures in roughly equal numbers, a few with Asian features, and one in a wheelchair. Aside from the lack of restrooms, it seems an idyllic environment—at least for dog-loving children who prefer sports and play over quieter pursuits.
An all-day sugar rush, putting the “fun” back into, er, education. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-525-55291-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An uncomplicated opener, with some funny bits and a clear but not heavy agenda.
Hank Zipzer, poster boy for dyslexic middle graders everywhere, stars in a new prequel series highlighting second-grade trials and triumphs.
Hank’s hopes of playing Aqua Fly, a comic-book character, in the upcoming class play founder when, despite plenty of coaching and preparation, he freezes up during tryouts. He is not particularly comforted when his sympathetic teacher adds a nonspeaking role as a bookmark to the play just for him. Following the pattern laid down in his previous appearances as an older child, he gets plenty of help and support from understanding friends (including Ashley Wong, a new apartment-house neighbor). He even manages to turn lemons into lemonade with a quick bit of improv when Nick “the Tick” McKelty, the sneering classmate who took his preferred role, blanks on his lines during the performance. As the aforementioned bully not only chokes in the clutch and gets a demeaning nickname, but is fat, boastful and eats like a pig, the authors’ sensitivity is rather one-sided. Still, Hank has a winning way of bouncing back from adversity, and like the frequent black-and-white line-and-wash drawings, the typeface is designed with easy legibility in mind.
An uncomplicated opener, with some funny bits and a clear but not heavy agenda. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-448-48239-2
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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