Embraces “home” as a journey as well as a destination.
A young Taiwanese American girl navigates between one home and another.
Lily is energetic and imaginative and loves to play chase. When Mama announces their move to Taiwan to take care of Ah Ma, Lily’s grandmother, the girl’s world comes crashing down as she begins to process all that she will miss: the fireflies at Parsley Park, her friend Jill. And when they arrive, things are wildly different—the welcome banquet with relatives is nothing like her backyard barbecue, the motor scooter is a far cry from her car, and so on. With humor and empathy, the simple storyline and vivid illustrations convey Lily’s challenges at her new school and her struggles with jet lag, the Chinese language, and socializing. A pivotal moment with Mama opens Lily’s heart; on a page filled with white space, parent and child hug and then Lily moves toward the edge of the page, ready to give her new home a chance. The artwork shows Lily’s perspective broadening as she finds her way and regains her stride, eventually feeling at home in her current environment. The endpapers complement each other, portraying a sunny, palm tree–lined suburban neighborhood in the United States at the front and, on the back, a moonlit street scene in Taiwan. Given the time differences between the two countries, this juxtaposition not only reflects simultaneous realities in different locales, but also underscores the duality of existence familiar to individuals whose identities are rooted in diverse geographies and languages. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Embraces “home” as a journey as well as a destination. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-316-37710-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on...
Continuing from their acclaimed Those Shoes (2007), Boelts and Jones entwine conversations on money, motives, and morality.
This second collaboration between author and illustrator is set within an urban multicultural streetscape, where brown-skinned protagonist Ruben wishes for a bike like his friend Sergio’s. He wishes, but Ruben knows too well the pressure his family feels to prioritize the essentials. While Sergio buys a pack of football cards from Sonny’s Grocery, Ruben must buy the bread his mom wants. A familiar lady drops what Ruben believes to be a $1 bill, but picking it up, to his shock, he discovers $100! Is this Ruben’s chance to get himself the bike of his dreams? In a fateful twist, Ruben loses track of the C-note and is sent into a panic. After finally finding it nestled deep in a backpack pocket, he comes to a sense of moral clarity: “I remember how it was for me when that money that was hers—then mine—was gone.” When he returns the bill to her, the lady offers Ruben her blessing, leaving him with double-dipped emotions, “happy and mixed up, full and empty.” Readers will be pleased that there’s no reward for Ruben’s choice of integrity beyond the priceless love and warmth of a family’s care and pride.
Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on children. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6649-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
A surprisingly nuanced lesson set in confidence-building, easy-to-decode text.
A unicorn learns a friendship lesson in this chapter-book series opener.
Unicorn Bo has friends but longs for a “bestie.” Luckily, a new unicorn pops into existence (literally: Unicorns appear on especially starry nights) and joins Bo at the Sparklegrove School for Unicorns, where they study things like unicorn magic. Each unicorn has a special power; Bo’s is granting wishes. Not knowing what his own might be distresses new unicorn Sunny. When the week’s assignment is to earn a patch by using their unicorn powers to help someone, Bo hopes Sunny will wish to know Bo's power (enabling both unicorns to complete the task, and besides, Bo enjoys Sunny’s company and wants to help him). But when the words come out wrong, Sunny thinks Bo was feigning friendship to get to grant a wish and earn a patch, setting up a fairly sophisticated conflict. Bo makes things up to Sunny, and then—with the unicorns friends again and no longer trying to force their powers—arising circumstances enable them to earn their patches. The cheerful illustrations feature a sherbet palette, using patterns for texture; on busy pages with background colors similar to the characters’ color schemes, this combines with the absence of outlines to make discerning some individual characters a challenge. The format, familiar to readers of Elliott’s Owl Diaries series, uses large print and speech bubbles to keep pages to a manageable amount of text.
A surprisingly nuanced lesson set in confidence-building, easy-to-decode text. (Fantasy. 5-8)Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-32332-0
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2019
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