A worthwhile fable for sporty, ambitious young readers.
A young Black girl used to taking home first prizes must adjust to someone else getting the gold in this picture book.
“The amazingly talented Jackie J. Spade, a star in the making in just the sixth grade,” has a big race coming up, but she’s not worried. Already a prizewinner in karate and ice skating, dark-skinned, Afro puff–wearing Jackie also “swings a mean bat” and wins spelling bees, science fairs, and chess matches. Readers get little information about Jackie outside of Ferguson’s brisk, rhyming verse about her long streak of achievements, but her smile is bright. Debut illustrator Aryutova’s well-composed digital images in warm tones and textures show happy, adorable Jackie excitedly accepting awards. How will all this victory inform Jackie’s reaction to the inevitable loss? When a Black girl wins first place in the 200-meter dash and Jackie gets second, it’s a horrible shock. A crying Jackie collapses in an effective two-page spread that offers opportunities for conversations between adult readers and children about her feelings. But then Jackie “dusts herself off and wipes tears from her face / she walks right on over and says ‘good race!’ ” The value of sports for all competitors—not to mention Jackie’s hard work—could have been emphasized in the story a little more. Still, the cheerful championing of good sportsmanship among peers and the depiction of mutual recognition and encouragement between young Black girls make this a satisfying tale.
A worthwhile fable for sporty, ambitious young readers.Pub Date: Nov. 27, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-578-75221-1
Page Count: 36
Publisher: F. Ferguson Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A warming study of friendship, loss, and new friendship. (Picture book. 4-8)
With the help of family, friends, and passing time, Stella learns that “every goodbye… / …leads to a hello.”
The old adage “every ending leads to a new beginning” springs warmly to life as Doerrfeld’s gentle prose and soft, lively illustrations meander through an idyllic childhood. Young Stella may be reluctant to leave Mom and venture to school, but Stella quickly finds a best friend in bespectacled Charlie, and the two become inseparable. As seasons pass, they bid goodbye to beloved times and pastimes only to joyfully usher in new ones: Playing outside becomes playing inside, winter becomes summer, day becomes night. The repetitive prose pattern breaks hauntingly in the throes of Stella’s grief when Charlie moves away. Resilience, however, is this story’s driving force, and an ending montage of Stella mailing drawings to Charlie and meeting a new friend assures readers that every goodbye does, in truth, lead to a hello. Doerrfeld’s characteristically smudgy, minimalist renderings of homes, getaway spots, and school scenes replete with a racially diverse cast imbue the story with an intimate, timeless feel; Stella is South Asian, and Charlie presents white. If the text is occasionally somewhat saccharine in its optimism, it nonetheless celebrates the ups and downs of life with remarkable heart.
A warming study of friendship, loss, and new friendship. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: July 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-525-55423-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
The book’s simplicity guarantees achievement for beginning readers.
Two kids, probably siblings, explore their surrounding world through magnification.
While the older one remains inside with a microscope, the younger prefers the outside, examining all with a large hand-held magnifying glass. “I see,” the kid declares, focusing on several insects and animals while peering through the glass. A large, blue-black ant grins up through the glass as the child states, “I see an ant.” A butterfly, a snail, and robins’ eggs similarly appear through the glass, all narrated in the short, patterned text. Arriving home with discoveries crawling and flapping behind, the explorer now declares, “We see,” to the older child. The minimalist text is perfect for emerging readers, allowing children the ability to successfully read a whole book. Each repetitive sentence with its additional new word is coupled with recognizable picture cues to help in decoding. Cepeda’s characteristically energetic artwork offers sharp-edged, jagged lines that give it a scratch-art look. The siblings are dressed nearly identically, in blue shorts and red polo shirts, and they have tousled brown hair, beige skin, and big smiles.
The book’s simplicity guarantees achievement for beginning readers. (Picture book/early reader. 4-6)Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4504-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2019
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