A joyful and thoughtful exploration of the world and its communities, threaded with hope for the future.
Take a tour of the cities of the world without leaving your home.
Kyo, the author’s first name, means “capital city,” and she begins and ends this story with the question: “If you were a city, / how would you be?” Each spread contains a short rhyming verse and bold illustrations of cities and diverse people as readers are taken around the world to help answer that question. Perhaps the city would be “bookish, proud, / but slightly leaning” (paired with an image of a light-skinned person standing against the Leaning Tower of Pisa) or maybe it would be “shiny, glassy, / sleek, and tall.” It could even be a new city, “a dream city,” in the imagination of architects or one that leaves “room for nest / and lair” for animals. Both words and visuals work to create positive energy, the one exception being people leaving a “broken city.” The other characters look cheerful, shown in both quiet activities like stargazing as well as “biking, / scooting, / walking,” and enjoying a nighttime wheelchair basketball game. The detailed illustrations vary—some spreads contain multiple panels with bright white borders, while others feature a single scene that bleeds to the page’s edge. The image of a brown-skinned child creating a literal safe harbor with their arms is particularly effective. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A joyful and thoughtful exploration of the world and its communities, threaded with hope for the future. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-4521-5519-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: July 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2022
Echoes of Runaway Bunny color this exchange between a bath-averse piglet and his patient mother. Using a strategy that would probably be a nonstarter in real life, the mother deflects her stubborn offspring’s string of bath-free occupational conceits with appeals to reason: “Pirates NEVER EVER take baths!” “Pirates don’t get seasick either. But you do.” “Yeesh. I’m an astronaut, okay?” “Well, it is hard to bathe in zero gravity. It’s hard to poop and pee in zero gravity too!” And so on, until Mom’s enticing promise of treasure in the deep sea persuades her little Treasure Hunter to take a dive. Chunky figures surrounded by lots of bright white space in Segal’s minimally detailed watercolors keep the visuals as simple as the plotline. The language isn’t quite as basic, though, and as it rendered entirely in dialogue—Mother Pig’s lines are italicized—adult readers will have to work hard at their vocal characterizations for it to make any sense. Moreover, younger audiences (any audiences, come to that) may wonder what the piggy’s watery closing “EUREKA!!!” is all about too. Not particularly persuasive, but this might coax a few young porkers to get their trotters into the tub. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: March 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25425-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A real treasure of a book for any child who has struggled to learn a skill.
A young Black boy struggles with writing—until a special guest visits his class.
Abdul loves to tell stories about the people in his neighborhood, and his friends at school love hearing them. But whenever he tries to write down his stories in a notebook, spelling rules confuse him, and his “scribbly, scratchy, scrawly letters” never stay on the lines. Abdul decides that his stories are not for books. One day, a visitor comes to Abdul’s class; Mr. Muhammad—a Black man with a flattop haircut like Abdul’s and whose sneakers, like Abdul’s, have “not a single crease or scuff”—is a writer who urges the students to “write new stories with new superheroes.” Abdul feels motivated to give writing another shot, but again he ends up with endless erasure marks and smudges. Mr. Muhammad shows Abdul his own messy notebook, and Abdul, who is left-handed, decides to try writing without erasing. He makes a mess but searches through the clutter for sentences he loves. He rewrites and rewrites and works on his mistakes until he forms a story he likes, proudly claiming the title of writer. Bright, full-color, textured digital illustrations depict a racially diverse, joyful community. This story offers an honest portrayal of learning differences and demonstrates the importance of role models who reflect kids’ own backgrounds. It is a lovely addition to the shelf of meaningful children’s books portraying Black Muslim Americans in everyday situations. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A real treasure of a book for any child who has struggled to learn a skill. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 29, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5344-6298-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Salaam Reads/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2022
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