A sweet and funny story about an unusual friendship.
“No one was awake to see it happen.”
No one except Rickman, the cat, who was snooping around for something to eat. He saw the whole thing: The ink in Mr. Rylance’s sketchbook came to life, slithered across the page and lifted right out of the book, leaving no sign it had ever occupied the white paper. Ethan, Mr. Rylance’s son, hates drawing, but everyone thinks that because his dad is a famous graphic novel artist, Ethan has talent. The terrible truth is that he can’t draw, but his friends have designated him the artist for a school project. Then Ethan meets the splotch with a mind of its own and dubs it “Inkling.” Inkling has taught himself (Oppel genders Inkling male with pronoun use) to read and communicates by forming words on paper—and he can draw! But then Inkling goes missing. Has he been kidnapped? Did he run away? The third-person narrative follows Ethan, a classmate, and Inkling, neatly developing the inkblot into a memorable character in his own right. In a metafictive touch, the corners of the pages are themselves splotched, giving readers the feeling that they’re part of the story. Ethan’s 9-year-old sister has Down syndrome but isn’t a sentimental plot device; she adds an extra layer of true humor and warmth to the story. The characters all present white in Smith’s vignettes.
A sweet and funny story about an unusual friendship. (Fantasy. 7-12)Pub Date: Nov. 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5247-7281-9
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: July 29, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 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
Funny and endearing, though incomplete characterizations provoke questions.
An isolated class of misfits and a teacher on the edge of retirement are paired together for a year of (supposed) failure.
Zachary Kermit, a 55-year-old teacher, has been haunted for the last 27 years by a student cheating scandal that has earned him the derision of his colleagues and killed his teaching spirit. So when he is assigned to teach the Self-Contained Special Eighth-Grade Class—a dumping ground for “the Unteachables,” students with “behavior issues, learning problems, juvenile delinquents”—he is unfazed, as he is only a year away from early retirement. His relationship with his seven students—diverse in temperament, circumstance, and ability—will be one of “uncomfortable roommates” until June. But when Mr. Kermit unexpectedly stands up for a student, the kids of SCS-8 notice his sense of “justice and fairness.” Mr. Kermit finds he may even care a little about them, and they start to care back in their own way, turning a corner and bringing along a few ghosts from Mr. Kermit’s past. Writing in the alternating voices of Mr. Kermit, most of his students, and two administrators, Korman spins a narrative of redemption and belief in exceeding self-expectations. Naming conventions indicate characters of different ethnic backgrounds, but the book subscribes to a white default. The two students who do not narrate may be students of color, and their characterizations subtly—though arguably inadequately—demonstrate the danger of preconceptions.
Funny and endearing, though incomplete characterizations provoke questions. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Jan. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-256388-0
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2018
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