by Jeff Szpirglas ; illustrated by Dave Whamond ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 14, 2017
A good choice for emergent readers who might like to promote improvements to their schools.
The kids in Matt’s class love to play with Monster Zap cards during recess, but now their principal has banned them, leaving the child scrambling to find a solution for recess despair.
Monster Zap cards seem to be a lot like Yu-Gi-Oh!: tradable cards that children buy, have battles with, and sometimes lose. Since the recess area is a trashy concrete wasteland surrounded by mud, the cards offer one of the only available diversions for the white grade schooler and his multiracial friends. Mr. Leon, the principal, isn’t unsympathetic; he just sees that the cards cause conflicts of their own. Matt, inspired by his innovative and creative black teacher, comes up with a plan to bring back the cards—but in a constructive way that even leads to both a cleanup of the playground and a return of a limited amount of other recess activities. All of this problem-solving is presented in a story suitable for readers just transitioning to chapter books, so Whamond has supplied plenty of appealing, cartoonlike, black-and-white illustrations to accompany the simple, large-print text. The tale is action-driven with little room for character development, but the reasonably believable kid-initiated resolution is satisfying enough to render that immaterial.
A good choice for emergent readers who might like to promote improvements to their schools. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4598-1211-6
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2016
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by Deborah Zemke ; illustrated by Deborah Zemke ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 14, 2019
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
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by Kwame Alexander & illustrated by Tim Bowers ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2011
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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