The artwork will lure readers into spending time on each page, though the representation of Mariama’s experience is at best...
When Mariama moves from Fulakunda, a small West African village, to a metropolis in Europe or North America, she adjusts to life with her new light-skinned friends and observes that they are more alike than different.
The story is straightforward: A “little girl” is told by her parents “that she [is] going to move to a country far, far away.” The art is amazing: On the verso is a beige, brush-stroked Africa, its western edge adorned with thatched-roof huts, a red-flowering tree and a woman in turquoise traditional dress. The faux handwritten script labels Mariama’s village and “my grandma.” Cranes fly across the page, connecting readers with a tearful Mariama, waving goodbye as her parents, in the background, approach a distant city. The vibrant, stylized illustrations complement such observations about the new land as, “There were no animals in the streets; and instead of earth, there were long, grey tongues.” Although the culture shock is clear, from urban living to snowy winters to students “nearly as white as the African moon,” the book does an injustice by equating the huge, diverse continent of Africa with Mariama’s remembrances of village life. Or is that purposeful, related to an unexplained allusion to the children in her new home, “who didn’t have to worry about anything else apart from being children”?
The artwork will lure readers into spending time on each page, though the representation of Mariama’s experience is at best elliptical. (brief African cultural notes) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: March 17, 2015
ISBN: 978-84-16147-60-1
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Cuento de Luz
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2014
Another empowering outing led by a dynamic young role model.
The third title in the Ambitious Girl series finds young Maya wanting accomplished women to get their due.
On a school trip to Washington, D.C., brown-skinned, bubble-braided Maya is full of questions, among them “How many representatives are there?” and, while checking out the statues and monuments, “Where are all the women?” Maya’s teacher tells her that they’ve seen all the “popular” statues and monuments. Maya is as dogged (“But what about Eleanor Roosevelt? Or Mary McLeod Bethune?”) as her teacher is dismissive: “Those aren’t on my list.” (Maya’s teacher follows the same list every trip.) Back at home, Maya is newly awakened to the lack of female representation in her orbit—she notices that streets and “even her own school” are named for men. Is there anything she can do about this? Maya’s teacher’s cluelessness feels a bit implausible, more like a plot device to steer the story in the right direction, but Maya’s righteous indignation is believable, and her corresponding activism will energize readers. Valdez gets into the spirit of things with her invigorating digital art: Maya and her multiethnic classmates and neighbors are colorful dressers with smiling faces, which fosters a sense that wherever Maya goes, a warm and ebullient community is there for her.
Another empowering outing led by a dynamic young role model. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Feb. 3, 2026
ISBN: 9780316561341
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted...
Reinvention is the name of the game for two blobs of clay.
A blue-eyed gray blob and a brown-eyed brown blob sit side by side, unsure as to what’s going to happen next. The gray anticipates an adventure, while the brown appears apprehensive. A pair of hands descends, and soon, amid a flurry of squishing and prodding and poking and sculpting, a handsome gray wolf and a stately brown owl emerge. The hands disappear, leaving the friends to their own devices. The owl is pleased, but the wolf convinces it that the best is yet to come. An ear pulled here and an extra eye placed there, and before you can shake a carving stick, a spurt of frenetic self-exploration—expressed as a tangled black scribble—reveals a succession of smug hybrid beasts. After all, the opportunity to become a “pig-e-phant” doesn’t come around every day. But the sound of approaching footsteps panics the pair of Picassos. How are they going to “fix [them]selves” on time? Soon a hippopotamus and peacock are staring bug-eyed at a returning pair of astonished hands. The creative naiveté of the “clay mates” is perfectly captured by Petty’s feisty, spot-on dialogue: “This was your idea…and it was a BAD one.” Eldridge’s endearing sculpted images are photographed against the stark white background of an artist’s work table to great effect.
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted fun of their own . (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 20, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-316-30311-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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