Like a Clementine of color, Ellie May is a protagonist readers can feel for even if they don’t share her preoccupations.
Ellie May wants desperately to be flag leader in class this week, but can she figure out how to please her teacher?
Ellie May hasn’t been flag leader in months even though she waves her hands enthusiastically every morning to be picked. Her class is learning about U.S. presidents for Presidents’ Day, and Ellie May figures that if she can act like a president, maybe Ms. Silva will pick her. Chopping down a class plant so that she can tell the truth about it, as George Washington supposedly did, doesn’t work. (Ava, know-it-all–turned-friend, and Ms. Silva both explain that the cherry-tree story is a myth.) Taking apart the class pencil sharpener because Abraham Lincoln liked taking gadgets apart completely backfires. When she owns up to her actions though, she is surprised by the results. The classroom is ethnically diverse—Ellie May and Ava appear black (Ava has a dark skin tone while Ellie May has a light one); the teacher presents as white. While the text clarifies that presidents were just people, the uncritical glorification of historical presidents by black kids (who would have been treated poorly by them) seems a little off-key. For more of her antics, see Ellie May on April Fool’s Day. An appended note on the Pledge of Allegiance omits mention of “under God”; it’s followed by a note on Presidents’ Day.
Like a Clementine of color, Ellie May is a protagonist readers can feel for even if they don’t share her preoccupations. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: Dec. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-58089-819-5
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2018
A frankenfailure.
A lonely middle schooler literally makes a friend.
Watkins pairs miserable young Angus with Frank, a science-class frog who, upon being taken home for the weekend, dies on the family dinner table. Angus gets to work, and next morning Frank wakes up with a bolt through his neck…and a grouchy disposition: “You’ve brought me back, but who gave you permission? / My body was old, I’d lost most of my vision. / Now everything hurts even more than it did. / I was not in the mood to wake up to you, kid.” Still, Frank agrees to stick around as a permanent houseguest (being apparently unmissed back at school), and the stage is set for a final family gathering featuring a grown-up Angus and another frog topped (natch) by a tall hairpiece with a wavy white stripe. Readers who sucked up Giracula (2019) and found it wanting aren’t going to leap to embrace this second nonsensical, poorly written outing either, Watkins having forcibly wrenched many of the lines into verses: “The laughter started at table five, / And reached poor Angus, who started to cry. / His parents were wrong—this school was no different / Than those in the previous cities he’d lived in.” Angus and his parents register as White, but in his cartoon illustrations, Tuchman does vary skin tones slightly in class and crowd scenes. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-18-inch double-page spreads viewed at 77 % of actual size.)
A frankenfailure. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-943978-51-9
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Persnickety Press
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
Still a holiday to believe in—“even if believing looks a little different this year.”
Safe and socially distant ways to celebrate the joys of Christmas.
There is no direct reference to the pandemic in the text. Instead, to Sargent’s lyrical reminders that Christmas is a time to cherish our families, friends, and neighbors, Chambers pairs festive scenes featuring family groups with one or two children decorating indoors, sitting well spaced around a campfire, or gathering via video hookup. These family groups reflect generational diversity as well as, possibly, at least one family with same-sex parents. On a world map children (one in a wheelchair) stand on different continents and wave at one another. Multiple Santas (both White- and Black-presenting, but the one at the North Pole presents White) deliver gifts while wearing protective masks. (Most of the people celebrating do not wear masks, though one family gathers for a holiday selfie wearing matching red plaid pajamas and masks.) Aside from one nighttime picture of a bright star illuminating a cross atop a church steeple, there is no religious iconography. The author avoids mention of Christian practices too, though she offers several specific suggestions for safe alternatives to traditional secular activities at the end. (This book was reviewed digitally with 8-by-16-inch double-page spreads viewed at 95% of actual size.)
Still a holiday to believe in—“even if believing looks a little different this year.” (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Nov. 3, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-38084-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 9, 2020
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