A dynamically imagined, girl power–infused re-creation of an acclaimed author’s childhood.
“My stories are gonna change the world,” young Zora Neale Hurston declares—and they do!
Small-Girl Zora seems to invite trouble, climbing trees and sneaking out to play tag with the moon. She also tells wild stories, dismissed by some (“All a girl needs to know is how to change the sheets”), but to her Granny, they’re woven magic. That summer, the town is plagued by drought, and Small-Girl Zora is determined to fill Mama’s old watering can with “tears of JOY and LAUGHTER” that she’s convinced her tall tales can elicit. Whether visiting Mr. Starks’ general store to boast about hens that lay eggs by the dozen or stopping by Mr. Tea Cake and Miss Janie’s sugar cane fields, where her tales “spill out higgledy-piggledy,” Small-Girl tenaciously showers willing (and not-so-willing) listeners with endless stories, inviting the rain that finally arrives. Anatol’s author’s note is an enlightening delight, revealing parallels with the life and literature of the real Zora that she cleverly wove into this fictional account of the writer’s childhood. Figueroa, who illustrated Anatol’s Small-Girl Toni and the Quest for Gold (2023), enlivens Small-Girl Zora’s enthusiasm in full color, effusive with details on every page. Mr. Starks’ store interior is particularly memorable, with signs for S&H Green Stamps and Buster Brown Bread. All characters are brown-skinned, reflecting the actual Zora’s historically all-Black community of Eatonville, Florida.
A dynamically imagined, girl power–infused re-creation of an acclaimed author’s childhood. (Picture book. 5-10)Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9780593404898
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.
How to raise money for a coveted poster: put your friends to work!
John, founder of the FUBU fashion line and a Shark Tank venture capitalist, offers a self-referential blueprint for financial success. Having only half of the $10 he needs for a Minka J poster, Daymond forks over $1 to buy a plain T-shirt, paints a picture of the pop star on it, sells it for $5, and uses all of his cash to buy nine more shirts. Then he recruits three friends to decorate them with his design and help sell them for an unspecified amount (from a conveniently free and empty street-fair booth) until they’re gone. The enterprising entrepreneur reimburses himself for the shirts and splits the remaining proceeds, which leaves him with enough for that poster as well as a “brand-new business book,” while his friends express other fiscal strategies: saving their share, spending it all on new art supplies, or donating part and buying a (math) book with the rest. (In a closing summation, the author also suggests investing in stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrency.) Though Miles cranks up the visual energy in her sparsely detailed illustrations by incorporating bright colors and lots of greenbacks, the actual advice feels a bit vague. Daymond is Black; most of the cast are people of color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-56727-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted...
Reinvention is the name of the game for two blobs of clay.
A blue-eyed gray blob and a brown-eyed brown blob sit side by side, unsure as to what’s going to happen next. The gray anticipates an adventure, while the brown appears apprehensive. A pair of hands descends, and soon, amid a flurry of squishing and prodding and poking and sculpting, a handsome gray wolf and a stately brown owl emerge. The hands disappear, leaving the friends to their own devices. The owl is pleased, but the wolf convinces it that the best is yet to come. An ear pulled here and an extra eye placed there, and before you can shake a carving stick, a spurt of frenetic self-exploration—expressed as a tangled black scribble—reveals a succession of smug hybrid beasts. After all, the opportunity to become a “pig-e-phant” doesn’t come around every day. But the sound of approaching footsteps panics the pair of Picassos. How are they going to “fix [them]selves” on time? Soon a hippopotamus and peacock are staring bug-eyed at a returning pair of astonished hands. The creative naiveté of the “clay mates” is perfectly captured by Petty’s feisty, spot-on dialogue: “This was your idea…and it was a BAD one.” Eldridge’s endearing sculpted images are photographed against the stark white background of an artist’s work table to great effect.
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted fun of their own . (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 20, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-316-30311-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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