A warm and glowing modern myth.
Little Star has trouble resisting the Big Mooncake that Mama has hung in the sky in Lin’s (When the Sea Turned Silver, 2016, etc.) luminous departure from her usual block-print style.
After Little Star and her mama, both wearing jet-black pajamas adorned with bright yellow stars, bake a huge yellow mooncake, Mama reminds Little Star to leave it in the sky to cool. Of course Little Star tries, but she wakes in the night, unable to resist taking a tiny nibble. Mama surely won’t notice. Each subsequent night, Little Star steals another bite, and soon observant readers may realize what is happening: The Big Mooncake is waning from a full moon to a new moon. Lin’s storytelling is both clever and radiant. Painted in gouache against perfectly black pages, the characters’ pajamas have no edges, only the stars defining the separation between foreground and background. The mooncake gleams against the black as well, crumbs scattering like stars in the sky—a visual delight, suffusing the book with a feeling of otherworldliness that is offset by Little Star’s childlike authenticity and her loving relationship with Mama. An author’s note on the jacket flap indicates that while this story is not rooted in Chinese cosmology, it is Lin’s homage to the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival, her “favorite Asian holiday.”
A warm and glowing modern myth. (Picture book. 3-8)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-316-40448-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A solid, small step for diversifying STEM stories.
What does Annie want to be?
As career day approaches, Annie wants to keep her job choice secret until her family sees her presentation at school. Readers will figure it out, however, through the title and clues Tadgell incorporates into the illustrations. Family members make guesses about her ambitions that are tied to their own passions, although her brother watches as she completes her costume in a bedroom with a Mae Jemison poster, starry décor, and a telescope. There’s a celebratory mood at the culminating presentation, where Annie says she wants to “soar high through the air” like her basketball-playing mother, “explore faraway places” like her hiker dad, and “be brave and bold” like her baker grandmother (this feels forced, but oven mitts are part of her astronaut costume) so “the whole world will hear my exciting stories” like her reporter grandfather. Annie jumps off a chair to “BLAST OFF” in a small illustration superimposed on a larger picture depicting her floating in space with a reddish ground below. It’s unclear if Annie imagines this scene or if it’s her future-self exploring Mars, but either scenario fits the aspirational story. Backmatter provides further reading suggestions and information about the moon and four women astronauts, one of whom is Jemison. Annie and her family are all black.
A solid, small step for diversifying STEM stories. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-88448-523-0
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Tilbury House
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A worthwhile tale to encourage sound financial habits.
A headstrong hog demonstrates the do’s and don’ts of saving for a big purchase.
The titular piggy bank rushes to help a bevy of anthropomorphic bills and coins save up for a sled during winter. He wants to do right by his ancestors, seen in a series of porcine portraits on the wall. If only he hadn’t skipped reading The Official Bank Handbook or neglected to plug his belly with a stopper. As a result, Piggy searches for loose change beneath couch cushions and in laundry machines, only for the scant savings to scatter. Sitting still to save money over time is excruciating for Piggy and company, but our hero acquires a work ethic and a sense of thriftiness just in time to make ends meet, purchase a sled, and hit the slopes. In addition to learning temperance and industriousness, Piggy must be dissuaded from taking money from a purse and jollied out of wallowing in tears. His enthusiastic foolhardiness makes him a good Goofus for Gallant readers to cautiously follow through to his eventual redemption. With his shiny round body and frequently smiling face, he’s a natural playmate for the money characters, whom readers may recognize from three previous, loosely connected books by Wilson and Hoffmann. Backmatter traces the centuries-old history of piggy banks and savings funds while sharing savings-related tips and a bibliography.
A worthwhile tale to encourage sound financial habits. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2025
ISBN: 9798890033079
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Page Street
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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