PAPER PLANES

Name: PAPER PLANES
Author: Jim Helmore
ISBN: 978-1-68263-161-4

by Jim Helmore ; illustrated by Richard Jones ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2020

Can a friendship survive an overseas move?

This is the story of Mia and Ben, two friends who grew up in side-by-side houses and enjoyed the same hobby: making paper airplanes together. One day, however, Ben’s family must move far away. Losing a friend due to a move can be very challenging, and the ordeal can sometimes feel like a great betrayal. Such is the case for Mia, whose friendship with Ben is tested severely; her feelings volley between hurt and anger, only to be soothed by dreams about meeting Ben again. One day, however, she receives a pleasant surprise in the mail: Ben has built a plane halfway and now seeks her input for completing the remaining half. She happily obliges. In this touching, sparely written story about friendship, author Helmore makes the best out of a difficult and potentially traumatic experience—a separation. While the story, enhanced by Jones’ symbolic, beautifully chalky illustrations, has a bittersweet beginning, it has a positive and uplifting ending. Parents and educators will especially appreciate how the protagonists’ feelings are depicted in a realistic and convincing manner—and the validation that sadness and anger are OK. The book’s inspiring ending makes it a good resource for children experiencing separation issues. Mia has brown skin and black, bobbed hair, and Ben presents white; their shared neighborhood appears to be in rural North America.

A beautiful and sensitive treatment of a common childhood experience. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: March 1, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-68263-161-4

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Peachtree

Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020

Categories: CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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Inspiration, shrink wrapped.

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WHAT THE ROAD SAID

by Cleo Wade ; illustrated by Lucie de Moyencourt ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 23, 2021

From an artist, poet, and Instagram celebrity, a pep talk for all who question where a new road might lead.

Opening by asking readers, “Have you ever wanted to go in a different direction,” the unnamed narrator describes having such a feeling and then witnessing the appearance of a new road “almost as if it were magic.” “Where do you lead?” the narrator asks. The Road’s twice-iterated response—“Be a leader and find out”—bookends a dialogue in which a traveler’s anxieties are answered by platitudes. “What if I fall?” worries the narrator in a stylized, faux hand-lettered type Wade’s Instagram followers will recognize. The Road’s dialogue and the narration are set in a chunky, sans-serif type with no quotation marks, so the one flows into the other confusingly. “Everyone falls at some point, said the Road. / But I will always be there when you land.” Narrator: “What if the world around us is filled with hate?” Road: “Lead it to love.” Narrator: “What if I feel stuck?” Road: “Keep going.” De Moyencourt illustrates this colloquy with luminous scenes of a small, brown-skinned child, face turned away from viewers so all they see is a mop of blond curls. The child steps into an urban mural, walks along a winding country road through broad rural landscapes and scary woods, climbs a rugged metaphorical mountain, then comes to stand at last, Little Prince–like, on a tiny blue and green planet. Wade’s closing claim that her message isn’t meant just for children is likely superfluous…in fact, forget the just.

Inspiration, shrink wrapped. (Picture book. 6-8, adult)

Pub Date: March 23, 2021

ISBN: 978-1-250-26949-2

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Review Posted Online: April 8, 2021

Categories: CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted...

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CLAYMATES

by Dev Petty ; illustrated by Lauren Eldridge ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 20, 2017

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)