Will resonate with kids who have lost grandparents or other family members.
In this middle-grade novel, 12-year-old Sophia heads to the shore with her family only to find that things are different than they were before.
When Sophia arrives at her grandparents’ beach cottage for the first weekend of summer, as she does every year, she is excited but nervous: Would this summer be just like all the others? Memi has passed away, and this is the first time that she will have a beach retreat alone with Poppy. Her first afternoon at the cottage, Poppy gives Sophia trinkets from Memi—a china teapot, a calico apron, a handful of sea glass—and she is lost in the memory of her grandmother and what these little pieces meant to her. That night, when she sees Poppy laughing and talking with Tessie, Memi’s best friend, she is shocked: How could they forget about Memi so quickly? Why is Poppy smiling with another woman? Sophia would never forget about Memi. She and her summer friend, Thomas, talk about it, and Sophia continues to not only remember Memi, but to stay angry at Poppy. As Sophia’s weekend progresses, she must learn that honoring Memi and moving on are very much the same. Bauer’s touching debut may be enjoyed by all ages. While the prose is simple (but not too simple!) for younger readers, adult eyes will not tire of its rhythm, expressive language and descriptions of the seashore. Its pacing is also excellent—a difficult feat in a short book, but Bauer skillfully holds interest with a balance of journey and realization. Notes by Memi, included in the book, add a personal angle to Sophia’s grief. The work is a revealing, immersive look at death through a child’s eyes: It is easy, for a child, to think that moving on is forgetting about a person who has passed on. Adults know that this is not so.
Will resonate with kids who have lost grandparents or other family members.Pub Date: March 21, 2014
ISBN: 978-1495202766
Page Count: 60
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: June 5, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.
How to raise money for a coveted poster: put your friends to work!
John, founder of the FUBU fashion line and a Shark Tank venture capitalist, offers a self-referential blueprint for financial success. Having only half of the $10 he needs for a Minka J poster, Daymond forks over $1 to buy a plain T-shirt, paints a picture of the pop star on it, sells it for $5, and uses all of his cash to buy nine more shirts. Then he recruits three friends to decorate them with his design and help sell them for an unspecified amount (from a conveniently free and empty street-fair booth) until they’re gone. The enterprising entrepreneur reimburses himself for the shirts and splits the remaining proceeds, which leaves him with enough for that poster as well as a “brand-new business book,” while his friends express other fiscal strategies: saving their share, spending it all on new art supplies, or donating part and buying a (math) book with the rest. (In a closing summation, the author also suggests investing in stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrency.) Though Miles cranks up the visual energy in her sparsely detailed illustrations by incorporating bright colors and lots of greenbacks, the actual advice feels a bit vague. Daymond is Black; most of the cast are people of color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-56727-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
Wonderful, indeed
A love song to baby with delightful illustrations to boot.
Sweet but not saccharine and singsong but not forced, Martin’s text is one that will invite rereadings as it affirms parental wishes for children while admirably keeping child readers at its heart. The lines that read “This is the first time / There’s ever been you, / So I wonder what wonderful things / You will do” capture the essence of the picture book and are accompanied by a diverse group of babies and toddlers clad in downright adorable outfits. Other spreads include older kids, too, and pictures expand on the open text to visually interpret the myriad possibilities and hopes for the depicted children. For example, a spread reading “Will you learn how to fly / To find the best view?” shows a bespectacled, school-aged girl on a swing soaring through an empty white background. This is just one spread in which Martin’s fearless embrace of the white of the page serves her well. Throughout the book, she maintains a keen balance of layout choices, and surprising details—zebras on the wallpaper behind a father cradling his child, a rock-’n’-roll band of mice paralleling the children’s own band called “The Missing Teeth”—add visual interest and gentle humor. An ideal title for the baby-shower gift bag and for any nursery bookshelf or lap-sit storytime.
Wonderful, indeed . (Picture book. 1-4)Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-37671-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: June 5, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2015
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