The Ratso brothers’ third outing is good, anthropomorphic fun.
It’s Poetry Month—time for the First Annual Peter Rabbit Elementary School Poetry Contest!
First-, second-, and third-place winners each get a gift certificate to Clawmart. Rat brothers Louie and Ralphie Ratso intend to win so they can buy new skateboards. But then woodchuck Chuck Wood, the coolest kid in school, derails the brothers’ plans. Chuck has a crush on geek-girl gardener Fluffy, a spectacles-wearing rabbit pal of Louie’s, and he wants Louie’s help getting her attention. Soon Louie’s abandoning his brother and their poetry project to carry out Project Fluffy. Louie’s advice: give her flowers, write her a poem, give her candy. After all, girls love that stuff: “It’s, like, a fact,” Louie tells Chuck prior to each attempt. After numerous failures, Ralphie tells his brother: “Fluffy is a person and not a project.” Their dad, Big Lou, agrees: “Women aren’t projects or objects.” To get a girl’s attention you need to find out what she likes and take an interest in it. When Louie passes this advice to Chuck, will the love-struck groundhog give it a try? A wry, third-person, present-tense voice narrates this story about crushes, brothers, and togetherness. While the denouement is developmentally spot-on (Fluffy and Chuck decide to be friends), the heteronormative assumptions about romance feel a little stodgy. Large type, lots of comedic black-and-white illustrations, and reading-level-appropriate text suit the book to newly independent readers.
The Ratso brothers’ third outing is good, anthropomorphic fun. (Animal fantasy. 5-9)Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0005-8
Page Count: 97
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.
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
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
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