Readers will be happy to spend time with Sam the Man
Sam is saddled with a rutabaga as his vegetable for the next two weeks in second-grade science.
Sam doesn’t like any kind of vegetable, but once he sees his rutabaga—“the size of a softball”; “round, but not perfectly round”; half purple and half “dirty yellow”; and with “a weird brown thing sticking out of the top like a little tree stump”—he is sure he’s got the worst. How is he supposed to write a letter from the rutabaga’s perspective? Drawing a smiley face on it helps, as does naming it. All of a sudden Sam becomes deeply protective of Rudy. How can he make Rudy happy? Well, as his elderly friend and walking companion, Mr. Stockfish, tells him, rutabagas grow underground, so Rudy must want some nice dirt. Thus is born Sam’s plan to collect neighbors’ food scraps and make a compost pile in Mrs. Kerner’s backyard, where he boards his chicken, Helga. While this outing is not as obviously purposive as series opener Sam the Man & the Chicken Plan (2016), it is equally appealing. Sam’s simultaneous awareness that Rudy is not alive and deepening investment in Rudy’s well-being are developmentally spot-on. Dowell’s characterizations are deft, accomplished in small but telling details. Sam is white, as is Mrs. Kerner, and Mr. Stockfish is black; the romance developing between the latter two is a quiet delight.
Readers will be happy to spend time with Sam the Man . (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-4069-1
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: Dec. 25, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An appealing invitation to consider the nuances in there being “no place like home.”
Tate would love to have a wild animal in the house…but for some reason, they’re not interested in moving in.
Determined to “rescue” the creatures she loves, Tate—a small, brown-skinned child with big, soulful eyes—writes letters to a variety of animals, declaring, “I want to save you from the wild!” Discouragingly, the lion responds to her offer of a safe home, a bath, and free meals with a “Proud Pass,” while the orca turns up its nose at the idea of living in Tate’s kiddie pool (“Sometimes I swim forty miles a day”). The grizzly bear emphasizes that it needs a den far bigger than Tate could provide (“I’ll be 800 pounds in no time”). Though some readers may question whether the trash-picking raccoons depicted in the story are really living in the wild, the author’s point about forcing wildlife into unnatural habitats is well taken, as is her closing suggestion that supporting animal conservation and rescue organizations is a better way to go. As for Tate, readers will be happy to see her connect at last with the stray dog that’s been shadowing her from the beginning and quickly becomes the perfect recipient for the promised home, bath, and meals.
An appealing invitation to consider the nuances in there being “no place like home.” (ways to help animals, websites for animal rescue organizations, author’s note) (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: June 18, 2024
ISBN: 9780593569078
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2024
Poppy’s paper is hard-won but worth the A it gets.
Following her decision to become a writer when she grows up, Poppy takes a significant step in the right direction—after a few false starts.
Poppy is blithely positive that the perfunctory career declaration she’s produced for a writing assignment will be selected for a class read-aloud. She is therefore deeply miffed when her methodical friend Lavender’s “Why I Want to Be a Brain Surgeon” is chosen instead. When, next time, Lavender’s “My Wish for World Peace” gets the nod over Poppy’s shallow, self-absorbed effort, her fury is so open that she lands a stint in the Chill-Out Chair. Third time’s the charm though, as for the assigned topic “How to Do Something,” a repentant Poppy tallies up her own rude behavior in a paper titled “How to Get in Trouble.” This ingenious apology not only earns applause from the class, but mends fences with Lavender too. Poppy, a flop-eared bunny, leads a cast of small, individualized animals drawn with an expressive delicacy reminiscent of Kevin Henkes’ figures. Also, along with sly notes like Poppy’s bright visions of future school visits and celebrity-autograph sessions, Bonnet depicts the writer-to-be in authentic throes of composition—breaking a pencil, throwing her notebook across the room, and weeping with frustration before finally buckling down. Take note, budding authors.
Poppy’s paper is hard-won but worth the A it gets. (Picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: July 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-58089-614-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: March 31, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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