Poetic, moving, and empowering.
This is a story inspired by the life of Loujain AlHathloul, the Saudi women’s rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize nominee who challenged patriarchy and continues to be unjustly persecuted.
Young Loujain dreams of flying like her dad, who literally has wings in this gently fantastical tale. She longs to see a field of sunflowers pictured in a photo given to her by her father, but the only way to get there is by flying, and girls aren’t allowed to fly. When she tells her friends about her dream of flying, they ridicule her. After a good cry in her bedroom, Loujain confronts her father: “It is not fair that I cannot fly,” she asserts. “Why not me?” Her mother agrees: “You have to believe things will change. Otherwise they never will.” A wordless montage across a double-page spread shows Loujain receiving flying lessons from her father. Soon, he is able to take her on daily practice flights at sunrise. Finally, one day, Loujain is ready for the longest flight yet—the journey to the field of a million sunflowers. Green’s illustrations, rendered in acrylic gouache and colored pencil, are beautifully representational, using plant, flower, star, moon, and sky motifs to capture the flourishing of a young girl’s potential and the scope of her ambition. Cowritten by AlHathloul’s sister (also an activist), this inspiring story is capped off with a short, informative bio of Loujain AlHathloul and a profound letter to the reader about summoning one’s courage to dream and create a better world.
Poetic, moving, and empowering. (Picture book. 5-12)Pub Date: March 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-66265-064-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: minedition
Review Posted Online: Dec. 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2022
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for...
A gentle voice and familiar pitfalls characterize this tale of a boy navigating the risky road to responsibility.
Gavin is new to his neighborhood and Carver Elementary. He likes his new friend, Richard, and has a typically contentious relationship with his older sister, Danielle. When Gavin’s desire to impress Richard sets off a disastrous chain of events, the boy struggles to evade responsibility for his actions. “After all, it isn’t his fault that Danielle’s snow globe got broken. Sure, he shouldn’t have been in her room—but then, she shouldn’t be keeping candy in her room to tempt him. Anybody would be tempted. Anybody!” opines Gavin once he learns the punishment for his crime. While Gavin has a charming Everyboy quality, and his aversion to Aunt Myrtle’s yapping little dog rings true, little about Gavin distinguishes him from other trouble-prone protagonists. He is, regrettably, forgettable. Coretta Scott King Honor winner English (Francie, 1999) is a teacher whose storytelling usually benefits from her day job. Unfortunately, the pizzazz of classroom chaos is largely absent from this series opener.
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for subsequent volumes. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: Dec. 17, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-547-97044-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A charming friendship story and great setup for future books.
Curious about the Big Wide World outside his Sasquatch community, Hugo makes a friend who is of it.
Sasquatch Hugo’s bedroom is inside a cave and possesses the charming feature of a small stream running through it that he can sail his little toy boat on. It’s cool, but he yearns to see the Big Wide World. When he asks his smart friend Gigi if a Sasquatch might become a sailor, she says it’s possible but would be difficult—the primary rule of their people is to not be seen by Humans. Then, in everyone’s favorite Hide and Go Sneak class, which is held outside, a Human appears; Hugo laughs at the sight, drawing Human attention in a taboo-breaking mistake. Shortly after, Hugo’s toy boat floats into the cave with a Human toy—soon, it’s facilitating a pen-pal–type relationship that’s derailed when Hugo confesses to being a Sasquatch and Human Boone, a budding cryptozoologist, doesn’t believe him. How Hugo and Boone resolve this misapprehension and become friends in a joint search for the Ogopogo concludes this series opener. Potter keeps the third-person narrative tightly focused on Hugo’s perspective, and the details she uses to flesh out the Sasquatch world are delightfully playful. Sala’s drawings depict a homey Sasquatch cavern community, Boone as a freckled, white boy, and Hugo as a hairily benevolent behemoth.
A charming friendship story and great setup for future books. (final art unseen) (Fantasy. 5-9)Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2859-4
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018
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