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
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
A jam-packed opener sure to satisfy lovers of the princess genre.
Ice princess Lina must navigate family and school in this early chapter read.
The family picnic is today. This is not a typical gathering, since Lina’s maternal relatives are a royal family of Windtamers who have power over the weather and live in castles floating on clouds. Lina herself is mixed race, with black hair and a tan complexion like her Asian-presenting mother’s; her Groundling father appears to be a white human. While making a grand entrance at the castle of her grandfather, the North Wind, she fails to successfully ride a gust of wind and crashes in front of her entire family. This prompts her stern grandfather to ask that Lina move in with him so he can teach her to control her powers. Desperate to avoid this, Lina and her friend Claudia, who is black, get Lina accepted at the Hilltop Science and Arts Academy. Lina’s parents allow her to go as long as she does lessons with grandpa on Saturdays. However, fitting in at a Groundling school is rough, especially when your powers start freak winter storms! With the story unfurling in diary format, bright-pink–highlighted grayscale illustrations help move the plot along. There are slight gaps in the storytelling and the pacing is occasionally uneven, but Lina is full of spunk and promotes self-acceptance.
A jam-packed opener sure to satisfy lovers of the princess genre. (Fantasy. 5-8)Pub Date: June 25, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-35393-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
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