by Istvan Banyai & illustrated by Istvan Banyai ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2005
A nearly wordless and somewhat fractured foray into what happens when you look at things from a different perspective. Graphite illustrations, with spots of red or yellow digitally added and altered, explore the other side of everything, from windows to the earth. An origami airplane (diagram included) soars out an open window. A real airplane is viewed from the sky and then from its interior, where a boy sees the beach where he’s about to vacation. Readers see a zoo tiger from inside and outside the bars, and a clown on stage in front of and behind the curtain. Things are not always what they seem, of course, as what looks like a robbery on one side turns out to be a movie shoot on the other. A boy in a red baseball cap, a girl with a pink bow in her hair and a spotted dog turn up in various places. One even sees the earth from the moon, and the moon from the boy’s rooftop. Full of ways to tease out the story and think about how to see things. (Picture book. 5-10)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-8118-4608-3
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2005
Share your opinion of this book
More by Linda Sue Park
BOOK REVIEW
by Linda Sue Park & illustrated by Istvan Banyai
BOOK REVIEW
illustrated by Istvan Banyai
BOOK REVIEW
illustrated by Istvan Banyai
by Maribeth Boelts ; illustrated by Noah Z. Jones ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 4, 2016
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
Share your opinion of this book
More by Maribeth Boelts
BOOK REVIEW
by Maribeth Boelts ; illustrated by Daniel Duncan
BOOK REVIEW
by Maribeth Boelts ; illustrated by Angela Dominguez
BOOK REVIEW
by Maribeth Boelts & illustrated by Lauren Castillo
by Grant Snider ; illustrated by Grant Snider ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 5, 2023
Quietly contemplative and thoroughly lovely.
A child finds adventure and a change of perspective on a dreary day.
Clouds cover everything in a palette of unending gray, creating a sense of ennui and gloom. A child stands alone, head down, feeling as gray as the day, and decides to ride through town on an old bike. Pops of color throughout the grayscale illustrations go unnoticed—there are yellow leaves scattered about, and the parking lot is filled with bright yellow buses, but this child, who has skin the grayish white of the page, sees only the empty playground, creaky swings, a sad merry-go-round, and lonely seesaws. But look—there’s a narrow winding path just beyond the fence, something to explore. There are things to be noticed, leaves to be crunched, and discoveries to be made. Imagination takes over, along with senses of wonderment and calm, as the child watches a large blue bird fly over the area. The ride home is quite different, joyful and filled with color previously ignored, reaffirming the change in the rider’s outlook. The descriptive, spare text filled with imagery and onomatopoeia is well aligned with well-rendered art highlighting all the colors that brighten the not-so-gray day and allowing readers to see what the protagonist struggles to understand, that “anything can happen…on a gray day.” (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Quietly contemplative and thoroughly lovely. (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781797210896
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
Share your opinion of this book
More by Grant Snider
BOOK REVIEW
by Grant Snider ; illustrated by Grant Snider
BOOK REVIEW
by Travis Jonker ; illustrated by Grant Snider
BOOK REVIEW
by Grant Snider ; illustrated by Grant Snider
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.