With messaging that blacks were happier before integration and explicit targeting of blackness, this is a version of the...
A harrowing quasi-biographical picture book about one girl’s quest to desegregate American schools and the hatred that tried to prevent her.
The story opens with a group of students discussing Norman Rockwell’s famous painting of young Bridges being walked to school by U.S. marshals. Immediately readers are confronted with a replica of the artwork, which includes graffiti of the N-word in the background. In an easy-to-understand first person, the anonymous child narrator dreams she is Bridges, allowing the story to delve into the details of Bridges’ life and the irony and realities of life in Jim Crow Louisiana. Bridges and her family are seen playing happily together before she qualifies to attend an all-white school—separate from her friends and family. The painterly illustrations, rich with deep yellows and striking blues, capture the cruelty of the time. In attempting to make the complex topic of racism understandable, the story undermines itself. When the narrator-as-Bridges wonders “why people were so angry at a little girl going to school,” the internalized message is revealed on the following page: “I was black.” Problematically, blackness is deemed the culprit for all the hatred this innocent girl has endured instead of racism. An author’s note devotes two sentences to further information on Bridges and two paragraphs to the Rockwell painting.
With messaging that blacks were happier before integration and explicit targeting of blackness, this is a version of the Ruby Bridges story to skip. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Jan. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-56846-341-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Creative Editions/Creative Company
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on...
Continuing from their acclaimed Those Shoes (2007), Boelts and Jones entwine conversations on money, motives, and morality.
This second collaboration between author and illustrator is set within an urban multicultural streetscape, where brown-skinned protagonist Ruben wishes for a bike like his friend Sergio’s. He wishes, but Ruben knows too well the pressure his family feels to prioritize the essentials. While Sergio buys a pack of football cards from Sonny’s Grocery, Ruben must buy the bread his mom wants. A familiar lady drops what Ruben believes to be a $1 bill, but picking it up, to his shock, he discovers $100! Is this Ruben’s chance to get himself the bike of his dreams? In a fateful twist, Ruben loses track of the C-note and is sent into a panic. After finally finding it nestled deep in a backpack pocket, he comes to a sense of moral clarity: “I remember how it was for me when that money that was hers—then mine—was gone.” When he returns the bill to her, the lady offers Ruben her blessing, leaving him with double-dipped emotions, “happy and mixed up, full and empty.” Readers will be pleased that there’s no reward for Ruben’s choice of integrity beyond the priceless love and warmth of a family’s care and pride.
Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on children. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6649-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
Another quirky take on the series theme that it’s cool to be kind.
The cool beans again step up to do a timorous fellow legume a fava…this time at the pool.
Will a rash decision to tackle the multistory super-slide lead to another embarrassing watery fail for our shy protagonist? Nope, for up the stairs right behind comes a trio of cool beans, each a different type and color, all clad in nothing but dark shades. They make an offer: “It’s not as scary if you go with friends!” As the knobby nerd explains once the thrilling ride down is done, “They all realized that I just needed some encouragement and support.” Just to make sure that both cool and uncool readers get the message, the narrator lets us know that “there are plenty of kind folks who have my back. They’re always there when I need them.” The beany bonhomie doesn’t end at the bottom of the slide, with all gliding down to the shallow end of the pool (“3 INCHES. NO DIVING”) for a splashy finale. This latest early reader starring characters from John and Oswald’s immensely popular Food Group series will be a hit with fans. Fun accessories, such as a bean who rocks pink cat-eye frames, add some pizzazz to the chromatically and somatotypically varied cast.
Another quirky take on the series theme that it’s cool to be kind. (Easy reader. 5-7)Pub Date: March 26, 2024
ISBN: 9780063329560
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
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