A gorgeously rendered, heartbreaking look at one family’s immigration experience.
Two Latine siblings set out on a journey north to the border between the United States and Mexico.
The older sister explains to the narrator that they are playing a game—to win, they must cross the line. They must keep moving, stay out of the clutches of the monsters, and avoid getting caught. The playful mood turns serious as the trip becomes perilous. The siblings rely on each other and persevere in order to reach their goal—a welcoming home on the other side. Clad in colorful masks to give them courage and speed, the siblings travel on foot, by bus, and by catching rides. The children are carried atop a freight train reminiscent of La Bestia, a dangerous network of northbound trains used for transportation by some migrants. Bright jewel tones—oranges, pinks, yellows, and more—used to depict the travelers’ masks and in landscape accents pop against the otherwise monochrome images, juxtaposing the sweetness of childhood with their grim journey. The motif of the imposing steel bars of the Mexico–U.S. border wall appears throughout in the strong parallel lines seen in train tracks, shadows, the wings of the ominous “monsters” stalking the travelers, and images of the wall itself. Yet the story is ultimately hopeful, gently providing probing insight into the lives of the youngest migrants. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A gorgeously rendered, heartbreaking look at one family’s immigration experience. (author’s note) (Picture book. 5-10)Pub Date: March 14, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-06-307316-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
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PERSPECTIVES
An effective early chapter book conveyed in a slightly overdone gag.
Epistolary dispatches from the eternal canine/feline feud.
Simon the cat is angry. He had done a good job taking care of his boy, Andy, but now that Andy’s parents are divorced, a dog named Baxter has moved into Andy’s dad’s house. Simon believes that there isn’t enough room in Andy’s life for two furry friends, so he uses the power of the pen to get Baxter to move out. Inventively for the early-chapter-book format, the story is told in letters written back and forth; Simon’s are impeccably spelled on personalized stationery while Baxter’s spelling slowly improves through the letters he scrawls on scraps of paper. A few other animals make appearances—a puffy-lipped goldfish who for some reason punctuates her letter with “Blub…blub…” seems to be the only female character (cued through stereotypical use of eyelashes and red lipstick), and a mustachioed snail ferries the mail to and fro. White-appearing Andy is seen playing with both animals as a visual background to the text, as is his friend Noah (a dark-skinned child who perhaps should not be nicknamed “N Man”). Cat lovers will appreciate Simon’s prickliness while dog aficionados will likely enjoy Baxter’s obtuse enthusiasm, and all readers will learn about the time and patience it takes to overcome conflict and jealousy with someone you dislike.
An effective early chapter book conveyed in a slightly overdone gag. (Fiction. 6-8)Pub Date: May 12, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4492-2
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
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Disappointing.
Grumpy Monkey moves from picture books to a graphic-novel chapter book, in which he tolerates his friends’ goofy antics during a group journey to an orange grove.
Divided into three chapters of cartoon-style comics, with bonus interludes in between, the book features Jim Panzee, the protagonist of the Grumpy Monkey picture-book series. He is on his relaxing Wednesday Walk, stress orange in hand, but little is quiet about his journey once his jungle friends appear. After the accumulation of unwanted companions causes Jim to squeeze his stress orange so hard that he destroys it, the group seeks a replacement, stopping for a papaya fight, a splash party in the water, and some swinging from vines. They eventually escape angry parrots with the only orange the parrots didn’t devour. There’s a good dose of potty humor: Leslie the giraffe responds to Norman the gorilla’s invitation to come along with “you bet your butt I do,” and two spreads are devoted to poop humor (with Jim as the butt of the joke). There’s also wordplay (a chapter called “Orange Ya Glad We Made It?”; Jim’s repeated mantra, “Squeeze, squeeze, mind at ease”; and a guide to speaking Jim’s nonsense language, in which the syllable ob is inserted before vowels in every word). That the book pauses for a “Primate Primer” with talking simians will be like pouring lemon juice on a cut for those readers who see in anthropomorphized monkeys a perpetuation of pernicious anti-Black stereotypes.
Disappointing. (Graphic fiction. 6-10)Pub Date: June 29, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-30601-7
Page Count: 88
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2021
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