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POPPY

Name: POPPY
Author: Jennifer Li Shotz
ISBN: 978-0-358-10869-6

From the American Dog series

by Jennifer Li Shotz ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 7, 2020

This one’s for dog lovers

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A shy transplant from Michigan to California finds her footing when her neighbor’s pit bull needs training.

Hannah, a white girl with a facial birthmark, is miserable in California. Her parents, overwhelmed with new jobs and Hannah’s younger siblings, never have time for her anymore. Hannah misses her Michigan friends, too. How can she possibly make new friends when she’s so embarrassed about her birthmark and the California kids are all spending this summer before sixth grade surfing? It turns out there’s something to love in California after all, though: her elderly neighbor’s rescue pit bull puppy, Poppy. Hannah eagerly offers to take on Poppy’s training, which is how she learns that many people prejudge pit bulls unfairly as violent; the analogies between judgments of Poppy for her pit-bull build and Hannah for her birthmark are strained but mostly unobtrusive. Through the process of training Poppy, Hannah slowly gains faith in herself, if only because her lack of confidence means the dog can’t learn. She makes friends, learns to surf (with Poppy!), and loses her crushing self-loathing. All of her forward movement—and her personal setbacks—are framed in the little victories and crises of Poppy’s education. The timespan of dog training is compressed down to simplified weeks, but the principles are solid. Brave, another in this dog-oriented series, publishes simultaneously, bringing together a canine hurricane survivor and a white boy whose father is deployed in the Middle East.

This one’s for dog lovers . (Fiction. 7-10)

Pub Date: April 7, 2020

ISBN: 978-0-358-10869-6

Page Count: 272

Publisher: HMH Books

Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2020

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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LITTLE DAYMOND LEARNS TO EARN

by Daymond John ; illustrated by Nicole Miles ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 21, 2023

It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.

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How to raise money for a coveted poster: put your friends to work!

John, founder of the FUBU fashion line and a Shark Tank venture capitalist, offers a self-referential blueprint for financial success. Having only half of the $10 he needs for a Minka J poster, Daymond forks over $1 to buy a plain T-shirt, paints a picture of the pop star on it, sells it for $5, and uses all of his cash to buy nine more shirts. Then he recruits three friends to decorate them with his design and help sell them for an unspecified amount (from a conveniently free and empty street-fair booth) until they’re gone. The enterprising entrepreneur reimburses himself for the shirts and splits the remaining proceeds, which leaves him with enough for that poster as well as a “brand-new business book,” while his friends express other fiscal strategies: saving their share, spending it all on new art supplies, or donating part and buying a (math) book with the rest. (In a closing summation, the author also suggests investing in stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrency.) Though Miles cranks up the visual energy in her sparsely detailed illustrations by incorporating bright colors and lots of greenbacks, the actual advice feels a bit vague. Daymond is Black; most of the cast are people of color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. (Picture book. 7-9)

Pub Date: March 21, 2023

ISBN: 978-0-593-56727-2

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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HORRIBLE HARRY SAYS GOODBYE

From the Horrible Harry series , Vol. 37

by Suzy Kline ; illustrated by Amy Wummer ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 27, 2018

A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode.

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A long-running series reaches its closing chapters.

Having, as Kline notes in her warm valedictory acknowledgements, taken 30 years to get through second and third grade, Harry Spooger is overdue to move on—but not just into fourth grade, it turns out, as his family is moving to another town as soon as the school year ends. The news leaves his best friend, narrator “Dougo,” devastated…particularly as Harry doesn’t seem all that fussed about it. With series fans in mind, the author takes Harry through a sort of last-day-of-school farewell tour. From his desk he pulls a burned hot dog and other items that featured in past episodes, says goodbye to Song Lee and other classmates, and even (for the first time ever) leads Doug and readers into his house and memento-strewn room for further reminiscing. Of course, Harry isn’t as blasé about the move as he pretends, and eyes aren’t exactly dry when he departs. But hardly is he out of sight before Doug is meeting Mohammad, a new neighbor from Syria who (along with further diversifying a cast that began as mostly white but has become increasingly multiethnic over the years) will also be starting fourth grade at summer’s end, and planning a written account of his “horrible” buddy’s exploits. Finished illustrations not seen.

A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode. (Fiction. 7-9)