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
The seemingly ageless Seeger brings back his renowned giant for another go in a tuneful tale that, like the art, is a bit sketchy, but chockful of worthy messages. Faced with yearly floods and droughts since they’ve cut down all their trees, the townsfolk decide to build a dam—but the project is stymied by a boulder that is too huge to move. Call on Abiyoyo, suggests the granddaughter of the man with the magic wand, then just “Zoop Zoop” him away again. But the rock that Abiyoyo obligingly flings aside smashes the wand. How to avoid Abiyoyo’s destruction now? Sing the monster to sleep, then make it a peaceful, tree-planting member of the community, of course. Seeger sums it up in a postscript: “every community must learn to manage its giants.” Hays, who illustrated the original (1986), creates colorful, if unfinished-looking, scenes featuring a notably multicultural human cast and a towering Cubist fantasy of a giant. The song, based on a Xhosa lullaby, still has that hard-to-resist sing-along potential, and the themes of waging peace, collective action, and the benefits of sound ecological practices are presented in ways that children will both appreciate and enjoy. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-83271-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2001
Only for dedicated fans of the series.
When a kid gets the part of the ninja master in the school play, it finally seems to be the right time to tackle the closet monster.
“I spot my monster right away. / He’s practicing his ROAR. / He almost scares me half to death, / but I won’t be scared anymore!” The monster is a large, fluffy poison-green beast with blue hands and feet and face and a fluffy blue-and-green–striped tail. The kid employs a “bag of tricks” to try to catch the monster: in it are a giant wind-up shark, two cans of silly string, and an elaborate cage-and-robot trap. This last works, but with an unexpected result: the monster looks sad. Turns out he was only scaring the boy to wake him up so they could be friends. The monster greets the boy in the usual monster way: he “rips a massive FART!!” that smells like strawberries and lime, and then they go to the monster’s house to meet his parents and play. The final two spreads show the duo getting ready for bed, which is a rather anticlimactic end to what has otherwise been a rambunctious tale. Elkerton’s bright illustrations have a TV-cartoon aesthetic, and his playful beast is never scary. The narrator is depicted with black eyes and hair and pale skin. Wallace’s limping verses are uninspired at best, and the scansion and meter are frequently off.
Only for dedicated fans of the series. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-4894-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
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