It’s a sensitive introduction to a difficult topic, but parents should be ready for difficult questions.
An understanding dad shows his daughter why it’s best for their dog not to have puppies in this well-meaning, earnest story about pet overpopulation.
Lauren is an African-American girl about 11 or 12 years old who desperately wants her young female dog to have at least one litter of puppies. Her parents don’t agree, so Lauren is alternately sad and angry when her dog returns from surgery after being spayed. Lauren’s wise father first tells his daughter about the high number of unwanted dogs and then shows her by taking her to a dog shelter. The shelter attendant shows them long rows of appealing dogs waiting for adoption, and Lauren asks to volunteer at the shelter to play with the dogs. The text includes several vague references to dogs that are unadoptable due to their difficult previous circumstances and to dogs staying at the shelter “all their short lives,” but euthanasia is not explained within the story. A concluding note intended for parents and other adults gives information about unwanted dogs, euthanasia and puppy mills as well as additional sources.
It’s a sensitive introduction to a difficult topic, but parents should be ready for difficult questions. (author’s note, additional sources) (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-940719-16-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Gryphon Press
Review Posted Online: March 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2013
A funny and timely primer for budding activists.
Problems are afoot at Emily Dickinson Elementary School, and it’s up to Bea Garcia to gather the troops and fight.
Bea Garcia and her best friend, Judith Einstein, sit every day under the 250-year-old oak tree in their schoolyard and imagine a face in its trunk. They name it “Emily” after their favorite American poet. Bea loves to draw both real and imagined pictures of their favorite place—the squirrels in the tree, the branches that reach for the sky, the view from the canopy even though she’s never climbed that high. Until the day a problem boy does climb that high, pelting the kids with acorns and then getting stuck. Bert causes such a scene that the school board declares Emily a nuisance and decides to chop it down. Bea and Einstein rally their friends with environmental facts, poetry, and artwork to try to convince the adults in their lives to change their minds. Bea must enlist Bert if she wants her plan to succeed. Can she use her imagination and Bert’s love of monsters to get him in line? In Bea’s fourth outing, Zemke gently encourages her protagonist to grow from an artist into an activist. Her energy and passion spill from both her narration and her frequent cartoons, which humorously extend the text. Spanish-speaking Bea’s Latinx, Einstein and Bert present white, and their classmates are diverse.
A funny and timely primer for budding activists. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 6-9)Pub Date: May 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-7352-2941-9
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look...
Winning actually isn’t everything, as jazz-happy Rooster learns when he goes up against the legendary likes of Mules Davis and Ella Finchgerald at the barnyard talent show.
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look good—particularly after his “ ‘Hen from Ipanema’ [makes] / the barnyard chickies swoon.”—but in the end the competition is just too stiff. No matter: A compliment from cool Mules and the conviction that he still has the world’s best band soon puts the strut back in his stride. Alexander’s versifying isn’t always in tune (“So, he went to see his cousin, / a pianist of great fame…”), and despite his moniker Rooster plays an electric bass in Bower’s canted country scenes. Children are unlikely to get most of the jokes liberally sprinkled through the text, of course, so the adults sharing it with them should be ready to consult the backmatter, which consists of closing notes on jazz’s instruments, history and best-known musicians.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-58536-688-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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