A charming children’s tale that strikes the right balance between simplicity and creativity.
Broussard’s debut children’s picture book tells the story of Maci, a young African-American girl, who feels stifled by her everyday ponytails and longs for a new hairdo.
Maci envies her friends’ hair—Ming for her “shiny, black strands that moved in the wind,” Mina for her “winding waves” and Mimi for her “curls that hung in bouncy orange rings.” At bedtime, she confesses to her mother that her own humdrum hairstyle is bringing her down and that she wants to “have hair like [her] friends so that [she] can be beautiful too.” Her mother explains that she should feel good about herself regardless of her hairstyle and that she doesn’t need to have hair like her friends’ to be beautiful. “Maci,” she tells her, “you must always see your beauty.” Since this is the crux of the story’s lesson, the author’s choice of words here might have been catchier, but they do the job. Thankfully, there’s more to the story: When Maci goes to sleep, she dreams of a magic hairbrush that shows her how she would look with each of her friends’ hairstyles. The spells she conjures as she waves her brush have a rhythm and charming absurdity that will likely please a child’s ear: “Werbert, sherbert, wimfram, mate…Give me strands that are black and straight.” By the end of this dreamy exercise, Maci realizes that none of the different styles suit her like they do each of her friends. When her mother surprises her with a trip to the salon the following day, Green’s animated, nuanced illustrations depict this rite of passage in an appropriately celebratory fashion. The story homes in on teaching children about differences in an increasingly multicultural world and offers a timeless message about fostering self-worth.
A charming children’s tale that strikes the right balance between simplicity and creativity.Pub Date: Dec. 16, 2013
ISBN: 978-1484095645
Page Count: 42
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: July 3, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Continuing to find inspiration in the work of Virginia Lee Burton, Munro Leaf and other illustrators of the past, Long (The Little Engine That Could, 2005) offers an aw-shucks friendship tale that features a small but hardworking tractor (“putt puff puttedy chuff”) with a Little Toot–style face and a big-eared young descendant of Ferdinand the bull who gets stuck in deep, gooey mud. After the big new yellow tractor, crowds of overalls-clad locals and a red fire engine all fail to pull her out, the little tractor (who had been left behind the barn to rust after the arrival of the new tractor) comes putt-puff-puttedy-chuff-ing down the hill to entice his terrified bovine buddy successfully back to dry ground. Short on internal logic but long on creamy scenes of calf and tractor either gamboling energetically with a gaggle of McCloskey-like geese through neutral-toned fields or resting peacefully in the shade of a gnarled tree (apple, not cork), the episode will certainly draw nostalgic adults. Considering the author’s track record and influences, it may find a welcome from younger audiences too. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-399-25248-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2009
SEEN & HEARD
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
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