Perhaps a metaphor. Perhaps not. An unconventional consideration of friendship and the wisdom of experience over time.
Surreal details and unusual art mark this coming-of-age tale from Sweden.
“Once upon a time, a boy lived with his father where the forest and the blue sea met.” So begins this fable. When the child expresses an interest in seeing the woods and sea for himself, his father tells him that there are bears in the forest and sharks in the sea. Things take a turn for the odd as the father ages and the boy does not. Now elderly, the father becomes a tree in their home, bearing the boy like a boat when rains wash them away. At sea, the boy comes across a bear, who shares the tree with him, and, later, a shark, who saves them both from drowning. A friendship blossoms between boy and bear, and the book ends with a poem, which concludes: “Good new thoughts come every day / And darkness lets me be.” Each of the tale’s four chapters presents sketches in four different pencil colors. At times, such art can be disturbing, as when the boy’s father becomes more grotesque and gnarled with age. More often, though, it’s dreamlike and engaging, as in two silent two-page spreads of the boy and tree in the sea, silhouetted against the waves. The story is similarly cryptic, beckoning readers to consider deeper meanings. Human characters have skin the color of the page.
Perhaps a metaphor. Perhaps not. An unconventional consideration of friendship and the wisdom of experience over time. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: May 19, 2026
ISBN: 9781778402203
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Greystone Kids
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode.
A long-running series reaches its closing chapters.
Having, as Kline notes in her warm valedictory acknowledgements, taken 30 years to get through second and third grade, Harry Spooger is overdue to move on—but not just into fourth grade, it turns out, as his family is moving to another town as soon as the school year ends. The news leaves his best friend, narrator “Dougo,” devastated…particularly as Harry doesn’t seem all that fussed about it. With series fans in mind, the author takes Harry through a sort of last-day-of-school farewell tour. From his desk he pulls a burned hot dog and other items that featured in past episodes, says goodbye to Song Lee and other classmates, and even (for the first time ever) leads Doug and readers into his house and memento-strewn room for further reminiscing. Of course, Harry isn’t as blasé about the move as he pretends, and eyes aren’t exactly dry when he departs. But hardly is he out of sight before Doug is meeting Mohammad, a new neighbor from Syria who (along with further diversifying a cast that began as mostly white but has become increasingly multiethnic over the years) will also be starting fourth grade at summer’s end, and planning a written account of his “horrible” buddy’s exploits. Finished illustrations not seen.
A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Nov. 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-451-47963-1
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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