Acutely joyful.
An elder from Manitoba, Canada, shares his memories of a traditional Salteaux summer event.
When he was a boy in the 1940s, co-author Chartrand looked forward to packing most of their belongings onto the horse-drawn wagon and then taking the two-day journey to the blueberry patch. Other wagons joined them, traveling in a line. The boy’s family had a stubborn mule, Dick, and a horse called Socks due to its white legs to pull the family’s wagon. At the end of the first day, the wagons stopped to rest overnight by a creek where nighthawks swooped above them, making funny farting noises. After a meal of bannock, the narrator and his brothers fell asleep to the sounds of the grown-ups’ storytelling. The next day’s travel took them to their destination, where they stayed for a month, picking blueberries to take home. Leason and Chartrand’s (both Salteaux-Métis Anishinaabek) bilingual text shares a look at an important traditional custom of the Salteaux people. The recounting is intimate, the crisp memory of a now-long-ago childhood recalled with sensory specificity that places readers in the moment. Leason, Chartrand’s great-niece, contributes vibrant, stylized illustrations that emphasize organic forms; circles and ovals within leaves, flowers, birds creating harmonious visual connections. A recipe for bannock and suggested activities for readers are included in the backmatter.
Acutely joyful. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-926886-58-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Theytus Books
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
A worthwhile tale to encourage sound financial habits.
A headstrong hog demonstrates the do’s and don’ts of saving for a big purchase.
The titular piggy bank rushes to help a bevy of anthropomorphic bills and coins save up for a sled during winter. He wants to do right by his ancestors, seen in a series of porcine portraits on the wall. If only he hadn’t skipped reading The Official Bank Handbook or neglected to plug his belly with a stopper. As a result, Piggy searches for loose change beneath couch cushions and in laundry machines, only for the scant savings to scatter. Sitting still to save money over time is excruciating for Piggy and company, but our hero acquires a work ethic and a sense of thriftiness just in time to make ends meet, purchase a sled, and hit the slopes. In addition to learning temperance and industriousness, Piggy must be dissuaded from taking money from a purse and jollied out of wallowing in tears. His enthusiastic foolhardiness makes him a good Goofus for Gallant readers to cautiously follow through to his eventual redemption. With his shiny round body and frequently smiling face, he’s a natural playmate for the money characters, whom readers may recognize from three previous, loosely connected books by Wilson and Hoffmann. Backmatter traces the centuries-old history of piggy banks and savings funds while sharing savings-related tips and a bibliography.
A worthwhile tale to encourage sound financial habits. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2025
ISBN: 9798890033079
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Page Street
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An unusual offering for the young geology nerd.
This British import is an imaginatively constructed sequence of images that show a white boy examining a city pavement, clearly in London, and the sights he would see if he were able to travel down to the Earth’s core and then back again to the surface.
The geologic layers are depicted in 10 vertical spreads that require a 90-degree turn to be read and include endpapers, which open out, concertina fashion, to show the interior of the Earth to its core. Beneath the urban setting are drains, pipes, and artifacts of urban infrastructure. Below that, archaeological relics are revealed. An Underground train speeds by, and below it, a stalactite-encrusted cave yawns. Deep below the Earth’s crust, magma, the Earth’s mantle, and the inner core are shown. Turn the page to start going up again, back through the mantle to the crust, where precious minerals are revealed, then fossils, tree roots, and animal burrows, ending with the same boy in the English countryside. The painted, stenciled, and collaged illustrations are full-bleed, and the tones graduate pleasantly from light colors at the surface of the Earth to rich pinks, yellows, and oranges as readers near the Earth’s core. The text is informative, if lacking in poetry, including such nuggets as “earthworms are expert recyclers, eating dead plants in the soil.”
An unusual offering for the young geology nerd. (Informational picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: May 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-68297-136-9
Page Count: 20
Publisher: Words & Pictures
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2017
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