It would be hard to come up with a tale of western settlers that's not a cliché, but Bunting (Spying on Miss Muller, p. 553, etc.) has done it. She takes a look at a pioneer woman, seen through the sympathetic eyes of her daughter, Zoe. While Zoe's father is challenged by the prospect of building a sod house on his turf, his pregnant wife is obviously homesick, and the prairie offers little solace: The view never changes, there are few neighbors, the closest town is a day's journey. In the gift of a miraculous patch of dandelions dug up from the roadside, Zoe hopes to cheer her mother (for a book for older readers, with a similar theme, see the review of Jennifer Armstrong's Black-Eyed Susan, above). Of the re-rooting of the dandelions, her mother says, "Don't expect a miracle, Zoe. It will take time." The last page shows the sod house crowned by a roof of gold. Shed (Staton Rabin's Casey Over There, 1994) creates scenes that makes this family larger-than-life; they capture the baked yellow heat of summer, and the golden weed that represents home. A memorable book, for the way its characters struggle with unhappiness, and slowly overcome it. (Picture book. 5-10)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-15-200050-X
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1995
An awesome-tastic invitation to have or share thoughts about bad and better choices.
Actor Tatum’s effervescent heroine steals a friend’s toy and then lies about it.
Thrilled about an upcoming play date with new classmate Wyatt, Sparkella considers her own sparkly stuffies, games, and accessories and silently decides that he’d be more interested in her friend Tam’s remote-controlled minicar. While she and Tam are playing together, Sparkella takes the car when Tam isn’t looking. Tam melts down at school the next day, and Sparkella, seeing her “bestest friend” losing her sparkle, feels “icky, oogy, and blech.” And when Wyatt comes over, he turns out to be far more entranced by glittery goods than some old car. When Sparkella yells at him—“WYATT, YOU HAVE TO PLAY WITH THIS CAR RIGHT NOW!”—her dad overhears and asks where the toy came from…and along with being a thief, Sparkella turns out to be the worst. Liar. Ever. She eventually confesses (her dad forgives her), apologizes (ditto Wyatt and even Tam), and goes on to take part in a three-way play date/sparklefest. Her absolution may come with unlikely ease, but it’s comfortingly reassuring, and her model single dad does lay down a solid parental foundation by allowing that everyone makes mistakes and stressing that she is “never going to be punished for telling the truth in this house.” He and Sparkella present White, a previous entry cued brown-skinned Tam as Asian, and Wyatt has brown skin in Barnes’ candy-hued pictures. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
An awesome-tastic invitation to have or share thoughts about bad and better choices. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: May 30, 2023
ISBN: 9781250750778
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A lighthearted look at surviving disappointment and the secret joy of learning new things.
A child changes their mind about a previously unwanted gift through a humorous and unexpected course of events.
“You wanted a special house for your dolls. But, surprise! It’s a…toolbox.” So begins this playful story, featuring a nameless young protagonist with straight black hair and brown skin. After a severe disappointment on their birthday when Grandpa offers an unwelcome present, the second-person narration offers helpful suggestions on how to accept the off-base gift with grace: be polite, patient, and appreciative. But “do not: launch it into outer space, feed it to a T. rex, or tie it to a wrecking ball.” The main character promptly puts the spurned present out of mind until a sad bird with a windblown nest motivates them to dig out the toolbox and try their hand at a birdhouse. Soon, an intergenerational construction team is born, to the delight of neighbors in need of a new doghouse and a repair for their mailbox. All the hard work and learning pay off, both for the young woodworker’s community and for the child. Encouraged by their successful projects, the protagonist decides to “buil[d] exactly what [they] wanted: a special house for [their] dolls.” Fans of When Grandma Gives You a Lemon Tree (2019) will love Deenihan and Rocha’s second effort, with its familiar message about perseverance and open-mindedness.
A lighthearted look at surviving disappointment and the secret joy of learning new things. (Picture book. 5-10)Pub Date: March 3, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4549-3232-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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