Loosely based on an actual success story, this tale of a Ghanaian lad who parlays one hen into a major poultry farm highlights the way microloans are helping to break the cycle of poverty in many third-world communities. Young Kojo and his mother are barely getting by gathering firewood to sell in the local market, but with a few leftover coins from a group loan, he is able to buy a chicken, sell the eggs and with the extra money slowly build up a flock. Milway follows Kojo through years of hard work as he completes his education, grows up and at last becomes a grandfather, with a big family and a business that has become an economic cornerstone of his entire town. Effectively lightening the author’s long, message-driven tale, Fernandes adds plenty of chickens and lots of fanciful details to her sunny illustrations. Kojo suffers no reverses in his climb to prosperity, but as an introduction for children to how microloans are supposed to work, this makes an eye-opening case study. The author introduces the real Kojo at the end as well as some of the international organizations that make these life-changing bootstrap loans. (Picture book. 8-10)
Pub Date: March 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-55453-028-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2008
to togetherness. Friendly. (Easy reader. 6-8)
Diversion centering around a tree marks three seasons of a friendship in this book of short chapters and simple vocabulary
intended for beginning readers. In "Leaves," sheep comrades Blanche and Otis rake falling leaves and are about to dump them when Blanche bemoans the lack of leaves in her own yard, which has only a pine tree. Otis rigs the bags of leaves with string in Blanche’s tree and surprises her with falling leaves. In "The Storm," sadly, Otis’s tree falls over, but in "Christmas," Blanche builds chairs out of logs from the tree as a gift. "Spring" arrives and the two sheep plant and tend a new pine tree, which quickly provides a home to baby birds. Quiet action, soft colors, and understated expressions characterize this unassuming collection of humble happenings. The characters are not defined as distinct individuals, rather it is their esprit de corps that effects the warmth of these tales dedicated
to togetherness. Friendly. (Easy reader. 6-8)Pub Date: March 15, 2000
ISBN: 0-8234-1376-4
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2000
The team behind Autumn (1997) turns russet in for a spring-green coat in this paean that moves from April to June. Once again, the first letters of each line make a word that is the subject of the poem, e.g., “Green leaves overhead, a/Rug of green underfoot,/And the air between/Sweet with the green/Smell of spring” for GRASS. That page is a particularly fine microcosm of the book; the delicate poem, direct and detailed, appears on a page where the strong line of linoleum-cut illustration brings into relief a field of green seen from above, where the bold shapes of a girl and her dog lay on their backs to gaze up at the new leaves. There are longer words, too, such as “quintuplets,” delighting in five new kittens. Many of the images are rural: frogs, cows, a baseball game ringed by a field of corn. Others—hopscotch, welcoming a new baby, and watching the light fade to purple fire—will be familiar and comfortable to children everywhere. A playful refabrication of spring, likely to please as a word game, certain to please for its images. (Picture book. 3-9)
Pub Date: March 22, 1999
ISBN: 0-395-82269-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1999
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