The real Amani shines as the star through photographs of her school in Rwanda, but the fictional story is flat and...
Young readers will enjoy armchair travel as they learn about school in Rwanda, but they will wish that the story was more fully developed.
Best friends Clarity and Juliet travel from Chicago to Africa to visit the Kigali High School, meeting a new friend and celebrating her graduation. “Muharo. I’m Amani. I’m from Rwanda. I’ve lost my homework! I can’t seem to find it anywhere!” Amani quickly finds her homework and then asks ultraorganized Juliet to keep it safe until she needs to turn it in, which is moments before graduation. Energetic narration fits the upbeat tone of the story; word highlighting is effective, especially as key words pop out for emphasis. Unfortunately, it’s never clear if readers are supposed to focus on Amani’s missing homework, her graduation or Clarity’s missing homework, which Juliet has inexplicably lost. The character of Amani is based on a Rwandan girl who has just graduated from a high school funded by the nonprofit organization Every Child is My Child. Readers can take a detour from the story to see photographs from Amani’s school and watch a video about school in Rwanda. While the photographs and videos give a real sense of Rwandan life, they also serve to throw into relief the inadequacies of the story.
The real Amani shines as the star through photographs of her school in Rwanda, but the fictional story is flat and unrewarding. (iPad storybook app. 5-10)Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2014
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Global Sleepover
Review Posted Online: Feb. 4, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2014
Continuing to find inspiration in the work of Virginia Lee Burton, Munro Leaf and other illustrators of the past, Long (The Little Engine That Could, 2005) offers an aw-shucks friendship tale that features a small but hardworking tractor (“putt puff puttedy chuff”) with a Little Toot–style face and a big-eared young descendant of Ferdinand the bull who gets stuck in deep, gooey mud. After the big new yellow tractor, crowds of overalls-clad locals and a red fire engine all fail to pull her out, the little tractor (who had been left behind the barn to rust after the arrival of the new tractor) comes putt-puff-puttedy-chuff-ing down the hill to entice his terrified bovine buddy successfully back to dry ground. Short on internal logic but long on creamy scenes of calf and tractor either gamboling energetically with a gaggle of McCloskey-like geese through neutral-toned fields or resting peacefully in the shade of a gnarled tree (apple, not cork), the episode will certainly draw nostalgic adults. Considering the author’s track record and influences, it may find a welcome from younger audiences too. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-399-25248-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2009
SEEN & HEARD
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for...
A gentle voice and familiar pitfalls characterize this tale of a boy navigating the risky road to responsibility.
Gavin is new to his neighborhood and Carver Elementary. He likes his new friend, Richard, and has a typically contentious relationship with his older sister, Danielle. When Gavin’s desire to impress Richard sets off a disastrous chain of events, the boy struggles to evade responsibility for his actions. “After all, it isn’t his fault that Danielle’s snow globe got broken. Sure, he shouldn’t have been in her room—but then, she shouldn’t be keeping candy in her room to tempt him. Anybody would be tempted. Anybody!” opines Gavin once he learns the punishment for his crime. While Gavin has a charming Everyboy quality, and his aversion to Aunt Myrtle’s yapping little dog rings true, little about Gavin distinguishes him from other trouble-prone protagonists. He is, regrettably, forgettable. Coretta Scott King Honor winner English (Francie, 1999) is a teacher whose storytelling usually benefits from her day job. Unfortunately, the pizzazz of classroom chaos is largely absent from this series opener.
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for subsequent volumes. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: Dec. 17, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-547-97044-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2013
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