Crucial in its timeliness.
The son of undocumented immigrants learns about what threatens to tear apart his family.
Hooray! Enrique’s soccer team is going to the tournament. There’s only one problem: Enrique must get his permission slip signed by his father, who refuses to sign it for fear of what will happen when Enrique travels through the checkpoint. “If they find something on your papers, they could send us back across the border, split us up,” says Papá. Though Enrique’s a U.S. citizen by birthright, Papá, Mamá, and his sister, Rosa, all live in the U.S. as undocumented immigrants. Papá’s refusal to sign the permission slip enrages Enrique, who fears that he’s letting down his team. “Why did his father worry so much?” When rumors of a migra roundup begin to circulate, Enrique’s family takes refuge at his tía’s home, where Papá finally shares with Enrique the full story of the family’s difficult journey across the border. While Williams never explicitly pins down the specific geographical context or the family’s cultural background (the artwork depicts them as brown-skinned and places a Mexican national soccer team banner on Enrique’s bedroom wall), this demonstrative tale nonetheless commits to a portrait of an immigrant experience that’s full of uncertainty due to the U.S. government’s heavily anti-immigrant agenda. The author’s use of text that’s direct and blunt in message clearly expresses the weight of what’s always at stake, even though this commitment to frankness leads to some abrupt tonal shifts. Palacios’ colorful, bright pictures exude enough warmth to push back against the bleakness that threatens to overwhelm.
Crucial in its timeliness. (author's note, resource list, further reading) (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: March 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-8028-5490-2
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Eerdmans
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for...
A gentle voice and familiar pitfalls characterize this tale of a boy navigating the risky road to responsibility.
Gavin is new to his neighborhood and Carver Elementary. He likes his new friend, Richard, and has a typically contentious relationship with his older sister, Danielle. When Gavin’s desire to impress Richard sets off a disastrous chain of events, the boy struggles to evade responsibility for his actions. “After all, it isn’t his fault that Danielle’s snow globe got broken. Sure, he shouldn’t have been in her room—but then, she shouldn’t be keeping candy in her room to tempt him. Anybody would be tempted. Anybody!” opines Gavin once he learns the punishment for his crime. While Gavin has a charming Everyboy quality, and his aversion to Aunt Myrtle’s yapping little dog rings true, little about Gavin distinguishes him from other trouble-prone protagonists. He is, regrettably, forgettable. Coretta Scott King Honor winner English (Francie, 1999) is a teacher whose storytelling usually benefits from her day job. Unfortunately, the pizzazz of classroom chaos is largely absent from this series opener.
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for subsequent volumes. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: Dec. 17, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-547-97044-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A charming friendship story and great setup for future books.
Curious about the Big Wide World outside his Sasquatch community, Hugo makes a friend who is of it.
Sasquatch Hugo’s bedroom is inside a cave and possesses the charming feature of a small stream running through it that he can sail his little toy boat on. It’s cool, but he yearns to see the Big Wide World. When he asks his smart friend Gigi if a Sasquatch might become a sailor, she says it’s possible but would be difficult—the primary rule of their people is to not be seen by Humans. Then, in everyone’s favorite Hide and Go Sneak class, which is held outside, a Human appears; Hugo laughs at the sight, drawing Human attention in a taboo-breaking mistake. Shortly after, Hugo’s toy boat floats into the cave with a Human toy—soon, it’s facilitating a pen-pal–type relationship that’s derailed when Hugo confesses to being a Sasquatch and Human Boone, a budding cryptozoologist, doesn’t believe him. How Hugo and Boone resolve this misapprehension and become friends in a joint search for the Ogopogo concludes this series opener. Potter keeps the third-person narrative tightly focused on Hugo’s perspective, and the details she uses to flesh out the Sasquatch world are delightfully playful. Sala’s drawings depict a homey Sasquatch cavern community, Boone as a freckled, white boy, and Hugo as a hairily benevolent behemoth.
A charming friendship story and great setup for future books. (final art unseen) (Fantasy. 5-9)Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2859-4
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018
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