Welcome, Geeger!
The first day of school can be scary even if you’re a robot!
Geeger is a robot constructed to eat everything humans don’t want to, like moldy mac and cheese and rotten eggs. Then at night he connects to the DIGEST-O-TRON 5000, which turns that refuse into electricity to power the town of Amblerville. But Geeger is lonely, so he decides to go to school, where he will surely make a friend. He is so nervous about his first day he accidentally eats his backpack. On his way to school he meets Tillie, who likes to jump-rope. Ms. Bork introduces him to the class, and Tillie’s thumbs-up helps to put them at ease as he introduces himself…but then he makes a mistake and eats the class globe (it looks so much like moldy fruit). It is hard for him to overcome his mechanical brain’s order to “EAT! EAT! EAT! EAT! EAT!” Fortunately, Ms. Bork doesn’t get too angry, and recess is fun! This agreeably silly robot tale kicks off a new series of very early chapter books. Ample illustrations that frequently and humorously extend the text, large type (set in boldface for new vocabulary words), a glossary, and comprehension questions make this a solid choice for fledgling chapter-book readers. Elementary-age children will identify with Geeger’s nervousness, his fear of making a mistake, and his impulse control even as they laugh at his antics. Line drawings depict humans with paper-white skin, but names suggest diversity among Geeger’s human classmates.
Welcome, Geeger! (Fiction. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5344-5217-6
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
While the blend of folklore, fantasy and realism is certainly far-fetched, Imani, with her winning personality, is a child...
Imani endures the insults heaped upon her by the other village children, but she never gives up her dreams.
The Masai girl is tiny compared to the other children, but she is full of imagination and perseverance. Luckily, she has a mother who believes in her and tells her stories that will fuel that imagination. Mama tells her about the moon goddess, Olapa, who wins over the sun god. She tells Imani about Anansi, the trickster spider who vanquishes a larger snake. (Troublingly, the fact that Anansi is a West African figure, not of the Masai, goes unaddressed in both text and author’s note.) Inspired, the tiny girl tries to find new ways to achieve her dream: to touch the moon. One day, after crashing to the ground yet again when her leafy wings fail, she is ready to forget her hopes. That night, she witnesses the adumu, the special warriors’ jumping dance. Imani wakes the next morning, determined to jump to the moon. After jumping all day, she reaches the moon, meets Olapa and receives a special present from the goddess, a small moon rock. Now she becomes the storyteller when she relates her adventure to Mama. The watercolor-and-graphite illustrations have been enhanced digitally, and the night scenes of storytelling and fantasy with their glowing stars and moons have a more powerful impact than the daytime scenes, with their blander colors.
While the blend of folklore, fantasy and realism is certainly far-fetched, Imani, with her winning personality, is a child to be admired. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-934133-57-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Mackinac Island Press
Review Posted Online: July 28, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2014
A jam-packed opener sure to satisfy lovers of the princess genre.
Ice princess Lina must navigate family and school in this early chapter read.
The family picnic is today. This is not a typical gathering, since Lina’s maternal relatives are a royal family of Windtamers who have power over the weather and live in castles floating on clouds. Lina herself is mixed race, with black hair and a tan complexion like her Asian-presenting mother’s; her Groundling father appears to be a white human. While making a grand entrance at the castle of her grandfather, the North Wind, she fails to successfully ride a gust of wind and crashes in front of her entire family. This prompts her stern grandfather to ask that Lina move in with him so he can teach her to control her powers. Desperate to avoid this, Lina and her friend Claudia, who is black, get Lina accepted at the Hilltop Science and Arts Academy. Lina’s parents allow her to go as long as she does lessons with grandpa on Saturdays. However, fitting in at a Groundling school is rough, especially when your powers start freak winter storms! With the story unfurling in diary format, bright-pink–highlighted grayscale illustrations help move the plot along. There are slight gaps in the storytelling and the pacing is occasionally uneven, but Lina is full of spunk and promotes self-acceptance.
A jam-packed opener sure to satisfy lovers of the princess genre. (Fantasy. 5-8)Pub Date: June 25, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-35393-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
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