An attractively illustrated, engaging book that skillfully balances pride in the past with awareness of 21st-century...
An introduction to African-American history for young readers.
In this debut, Davis thematically organizes stories of noteworthy figures in 12 chapters featuring titles such as “I Am Beautiful” and “I Believe in Myself.” The book uses these people’s stories, from Joseph Cinque’s and Harriet Tubman’s to Paul Robeson’s and Mae Jemison’s, as a way to encourage children to take pride in African-American identity, and it stresses the connections among the generations: “When I see my beautiful brown face in the mirror, I see brown people who did great things before me, brown people who are doing great things now, and brown people who will still be doing great things when I am no longer here.” Sepia-tinted pencil illustrations appear on nearly every page, providing vivid depictions of West African customs, the interior of a slave ship, the Hampton Institute, and all-black units fighting in World War II. Davis goes beyond famous names to inform readers about less-celebrated figures as well, listing dozens of inventions patented by African-Americans. The text’s upbeat tone leaves room to address challenges that readers face, including police brutality (“do whatever is necessary to stay alive…our chief concern is that you survive”), and explains complex issues such as white privilege and intersectionality in age-appropriate terms. The result is a narrative that’s both serious and upbeat, suited for children to read independently as well as for parents to read aloud. A handful of misspellings (“Benjamin Benneker”; “Barry Gordy”) are noticeable but don’t detract from the overall impact. Davis has chosen compelling, varied stories as examples of success and urges readers to use them as reasons for taking pride in one’s skin color. Readers will have no difficulty agreeing with sentiments such as, “I Am Victorious” and “I Have Moral Strength.”
An attractively illustrated, engaging book that skillfully balances pride in the past with awareness of 21st-century challenges.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Epps-Alford Publishing
Review Posted Online: April 25, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.
The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own...
The sturdy Little Blue Truck is back for his third adventure, this time delivering Christmas trees to his band of animal pals.
The truck is decked out for the season with a Christmas wreath that suggests a nose between headlights acting as eyeballs. Little Blue loads up with trees at Toad’s Trees, where five trees are marked with numbered tags. These five trees are counted and arithmetically manipulated in various ways throughout the rhyming story as they are dropped off one by one to Little Blue’s friends. The final tree is reserved for the truck’s own use at his garage home, where he is welcomed back by the tree salestoad in a neatly circular fashion. The last tree is already decorated, and Little Blue gets a surprise along with readers, as tiny lights embedded in the illustrations sparkle for a few seconds when the last page is turned. Though it’s a gimmick, it’s a pleasant surprise, and it fits with the retro atmosphere of the snowy country scenes. The short, rhyming text is accented with colored highlights, red for the animal sounds and bright green for the numerical words in the Christmas-tree countdown.
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own tree that will put a twinkle in a toddler’s eyes. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-32041-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
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