Personality and a developmental message successfully combine for STEAM fun.
Meg stands out as a brilliant boxitect—until Simone comes along.
Meg makes all sorts of things out of boxes: “tiny houses, tall towers, twisty tunnels,” and inventions no one else had seen before. When Meg goes to Maker School, she finds “blanketeers, spaghetti-tects, tin-foilers, and egg-cartoners,” but as the first boxitect in class, she feels special. But then Simone comes along. She’s brilliant and creative like Meg—and a boxitect, just like Meg. Instead of hitting it off, the two are immediate rivals, trading snide remarks and criticizing each other’s work. When the school competition rolls around and students have to work in teams, the boxitect team is the one that is not going smoothly. Meg and Simone split up the materials and compete with each other to make the better half. But when their infighting proves disastrous, the pair quickly learns to work together, gaining skills and friendship. The story arc contains just enough suspense to keep readers interested, and the humorous text is engaging. Smith’s cartoon illustrations are a combination of double-page spreads, full-page scenes, and smaller vignettes that use a variety of shapes, patterns, and contrasting colors for a lively and creative maker’s world. Meg’s brown skin and puffy hair and Simone’s Asian presentation put this in the growing and necessary category of picture books that feature modern diverse characters doing everyday things.
Personality and a developmental message successfully combine for STEAM fun. (Picture book. 3-8)Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-328-47720-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2019
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
New parents of daughters will eat these up and perhaps pass on the lessons learned.
All the reasons why a daughter needs a mother.
Each spread features an adorable cartoon animal parent-child pair on the recto opposite a rhyming verse: “I’ll always support you in giving your all / in every endeavor, the big and the small, / and be there to catch you in case you should fall. / I hope you believe this is true.” A virtually identical book, Why a Daughter Needs a Dad, publishes simultaneously. Both address standing up for yourself and your values, laughing to ease troubles, being thankful, valuing friendship, persevering and dreaming big, being truthful, thinking through decisions, and being open to differences, among other topics. Though the sentiments/life lessons here and in the companion title are heartfelt and important, there are much better ways to deliver them. These books are likely to go right over children’s heads and developmental levels (especially with the rather advanced vocabulary); their parents are the more likely audience, and for them, the books provide some coaching in what kids need to hear. The two books are largely interchangeable, especially since there are so few references to mom or dad, but one spread in each book reverts to stereotype: Dad balances the two-wheeler, and mom helps with clothing and hair styles. Since the books are separate, it aids in customization for many families.
New parents of daughters will eat these up and perhaps pass on the lessons learned. (Picture book. 4-8, adult)Pub Date: May 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4926-6781-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2019
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