Didactic? Yes. And maybe Thomas’ and Kyle’s transformations are a bit too good to be true. But this is valuable nonetheless.
The team that created the Weird series presents another title about bullying, again emphasizing the three roles in bullying transactions—target, initiator, bystanders—and bringing home to readers what they can do to end bullying.
Whether it’s demeaning the activities Thomas enjoys, putting down his soccer plays, using insulting words, or being physically abusive, Kyle makes Thomas feel like a nobody. But Thomas’ friends and some trusted adults help him change his thinking: “Maybe Kyle is right. Maybe nobody is like me. And maybe that’s a GOOD thing!” Thomas decides “it’s time for a new story,” and though his courage isn’t what he might like, he takes the first step in standing up to Kyle, and his friends back him up. Heaphy does an excellent job portraying emotions through facial expressions and posture—Thomas is visibly cowed, and Kyle consistently leans forward threateningly. Kyle and Thomas are in full color, while the rest of the characters are done in black and white with small patches of color. The backmatter is especially valuable, breaking down the actions that Thomas, his friends, and Kyle took to help end the bullying, giving ideas about combating bullying and thinking differently about oneself, and providing parents with constructive discussion questions.
Didactic? Yes. And maybe Thomas’ and Kyle’s transformations are a bit too good to be true. But this is valuable nonetheless. (Picture book/bibliotherapy. 6-10)Pub Date: May 15, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-57542-495-8
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Free Spirit Publishing
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2015
Another winner from Mills, equally well suited to reading aloud and independent reading.
When Franklin School principal Mr. Boone announces a pet-show fundraiser, white third-grader Cody—whose lack of skill and interest in academics is matched by keen enthusiasm for and knowledge of animals—discovers his time to shine.
As with other books in this series, the children and adults are believable and well-rounded. Even the dialogue is natural—no small feat for a text easily accessible to intermediate readers. Character growth occurs, organically and believably. Students occasionally, humorously, show annoyance with teachers: “He made mad squinty eyes at Mrs. Molina, which fortunately she didn’t see.” Readers will be kept entertained by Cody’s various problems and the eventual solutions. His problems include needing to raise $10 to enter one of his nine pets in the show (he really wants to enter all of them), his troublesome dog Angus—“a dog who ate homework—actually, who ate everything and then threw up afterward”—struggles with homework, and grappling with his best friend’s apparently uncaring behavior toward a squirrel. Serious values and issues are explored with a light touch. The cheery pencil illustrations show the school’s racially diverse population as well as the memorable image of Mr. Boone wearing an elephant costume. A minor oddity: why does a child so immersed in animal facts call his male chicken a rooster but his female chickens chickens?
Another winner from Mills, equally well suited to reading aloud and independent reading. (Fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: June 14, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-374-30223-8
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2016
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A funny and timely primer for budding activists.
Problems are afoot at Emily Dickinson Elementary School, and it’s up to Bea Garcia to gather the troops and fight.
Bea Garcia and her best friend, Judith Einstein, sit every day under the 250-year-old oak tree in their schoolyard and imagine a face in its trunk. They name it “Emily” after their favorite American poet. Bea loves to draw both real and imagined pictures of their favorite place—the squirrels in the tree, the branches that reach for the sky, the view from the canopy even though she’s never climbed that high. Until the day a problem boy does climb that high, pelting the kids with acorns and then getting stuck. Bert causes such a scene that the school board declares Emily a nuisance and decides to chop it down. Bea and Einstein rally their friends with environmental facts, poetry, and artwork to try to convince the adults in their lives to change their minds. Bea must enlist Bert if she wants her plan to succeed. Can she use her imagination and Bert’s love of monsters to get him in line? In Bea’s fourth outing, Zemke gently encourages her protagonist to grow from an artist into an activist. Her energy and passion spill from both her narration and her frequent cartoons, which humorously extend the text. Spanish-speaking Bea’s Latinx, Einstein and Bert present white, and their classmates are diverse.
A funny and timely primer for budding activists. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 6-9)Pub Date: May 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-7352-2941-9
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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