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THE BIG CHEESE OF THIRD STREET

Name: THE BIG CHEESE OF THIRD STREET
Author: Laurie Halse Anderson
ISBN: 0-689-82464-5

by Laurie Halse Anderson & illustrated by David Gordon ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2002

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Talk about your half-pint! Poor Benny Antonelli. In his family of Big Antonellis, with “bus-sized women” and “skyscraper-sized men,” Little Benny is no bigger than a peanut-butter sandwich. Even the Antonelli’s friends who also live on Third Street are Big. Oh yes, the Big Antonelli kids play with Little Benny: “They stuffed him into snowballs. They taped him to toy airplanes.” And in keep-away, Little Benny is the ball. He escapes by shimmying up street signs and telephone poles. It’s not until the annual block party that he comes in to his own. Food, games, and music are the heart of the party—but the greased-pole climb is the crowning event. Exaggerated perspectives amusingly and sympathetically depict the feelings and emotions of Little Benny, who—of course—wins the pole climb and claims the coveted cheese from the top. In a style mixing Marc Simont and Dan Yaccarino, the cell-vinyl and pencil illustrations play up the tongue-in-cheek text and project the underdog’s point-of-view. Kids who have ever felt left out or picked on will appreciate this “bigger-than-life” slice of justice. (Picture book. 5-8)

Pub Date: March 1, 2002

ISBN: 0-689-82464-5

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2002

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS

- BOOK REVIEW
WONDERFUL WOMEN OF THE WORLD
edited by Laurie Halse Anderson

- BOOK REVIEW
TEMPEST TOSSED
by Laurie Halse Anderson ; illustrated by Leila Del Duca

- BOOK REVIEW
SHOUT
by Laurie Halse Anderson

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A BIKE LIKE SERGIO'S

by Maribeth Boelts ; illustrated by Noah Z. Jones ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 4, 2016

Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on...

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Continuing from their acclaimed Those Shoes (2007), Boelts and Jones entwine conversations on money, motives, and morality.

This second collaboration between author and illustrator is set within an urban multicultural streetscape, where brown-skinned protagonist Ruben wishes for a bike like his friend Sergio’s. He wishes, but Ruben knows too well the pressure his family feels to prioritize the essentials. While Sergio buys a pack of football cards from Sonny’s Grocery, Ruben must buy the bread his mom wants. A familiar lady drops what Ruben believes to be a $1 bill, but picking it up, to his shock, he discovers $100! Is this Ruben’s chance to get himself the bike of his dreams? In a fateful twist, Ruben loses track of the C-note and is sent into a panic. After finally finding it nestled deep in a backpack pocket, he comes to a sense of moral clarity: “I remember how it was for me when that money that was hers—then mine—was gone.” When he returns the bill to her, the lady offers Ruben her blessing, leaving him with double-dipped emotions, “happy and mixed up, full and empty.” Readers will be pleased that there’s no reward for Ruben’s choice of integrity beyond the priceless love and warmth of a family’s care and pride.

Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on children. (Picture book. 5-8)

Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-7636-6649-1

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Candlewick

Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
THE PURPLE PUFFY COAT
by Maribeth Boelts ; illustrated by Daniel Duncan

- BOOK REVIEW
KAIA AND THE BEES
by Maribeth Boelts ; illustrated by Angela Dominguez

- BOOK REVIEW
HAPPY LIKE SOCCER
by Maribeth Boelts & illustrated by Lauren Castillo

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TRASHY TOWN

by Andrea Zimmerman & David Clemesha ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 30, 1999

Part of a spate of books intent on bringing the garbage collectors in children’s lives a little closer, this almost matches...

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Listeners will quickly take up the percussive chorus—“Dump it in, smash it down, drive around the Trashy town! Is the trash truck full yet? NO”—as they follow burly Mr. Gilly, the garbage collector, on his rounds from park to pizza parlor and beyond.

Flinging cans and baskets around with ease, Mr. Gilly dances happily through streetscapes depicted with loud colors and large, blocky shapes; after a climactic visit to the dump, he roars home for a sudsy bath.

Part of a spate of books intent on bringing the garbage collectors in children’s lives a little closer, this almost matches Eve Merriam’s Bam Bam Bam (1995), also illustrated by Yaccarino, for sheer verbal and visual volume. (Picture book. 5-7)