A book for very young readers who are already ready to lead.
Babies have all the qualities necessary to be leaders of the free world.
Does Baby have what it takes to be the president of the United States of America? Baby knows how to take charge, command attention, and negotiate complex trades. Besides these professional qualifications, Baby is used to working in a play space shaped surprisingly like the oval office. With all of these credentials, Baby seems like the perfect fit for the highest office in the land. The illustrations in this board book feature racially and ethnically diverse examples of both babies and presidents, notably including women of color and at least one woman wearing hijab, and a brown, female-presenting child beams from the cover. (It is, however, disappointing that the very first potential president within the book is a white, male-presenting child rather than one of the more diverse babies featured in later pages). The cartoon illustrations are bright and cheerful, featuring bold blocks of color that are especially appealing to very young children. The clever parallels drawn between a baby’s relationship to the world and the president’s job are sure to delight adults reading the book aloud, although many are too sophisticated for children to understand. The final pages feature facts about the U.S. presidency that are interesting but more appropriate for readers who are slightly older than the typical board-book age.
A book for very young readers who are already ready to lead. (Board book. 6 mos.-2)Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-31224-9
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Aug. 25, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
A delightful celebration.
A girl learns to appreciate her long name and the diverse names of others.
A Black child wearing cornrows braided into an afro puff watches her classmates in the schoolyard playing handball. Momma arrives, wearing a bright headwrap, and asks about her first day of school. The girl is upset because no one could say her name—not even the teacher. Reflecting the title, Momma tells her to tell her teacher her name is a song. As they walk through the streets, swaying and dancing to the sounds of street musicians and music from cars, Momma sings names from many different cultures. (Each name is spelled phonetically in parentheses for ease of caregivers reading aloud.) The next day, “the girl didn’t want to go to school, but she had songs to teach.” She even shows her teacher that “Miss Anderson” is a song. This lovely celebration of African American culture, featuring a Muslim family, offers a fresh way to look at the tradition of creating new names; Momma says, “Made-up names come from dreamers. Their real names were stolen long ago so they dream up new ones. They make a way out of no way, make names out of no names—pull them from the sky!” A glossary notes the origins and meanings of the names included in the text, with a note to always listen closely to how a person pronounces their name. The dynamic, pastel-hued illustrations reflect energy and strength.
A delightful celebration. (Picture book. 5-10)Pub Date: July 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-943147-72-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: The Innovation Press
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2020
Falters in its oversimplified portrayal of a complicated region and people.
Parallel storylines take readers through the lives of two young people on Sept. 11 in 2001 and 2019.
In the contemporary timeline, Reshmina is an Afghan girl living in foothills near the Pakistan border that are a battleground between the Taliban and U.S. armed forces. She is keen to improve her English while her twin brother, Pasoon, is inspired by the Taliban and wants to avenge their older sister, killed by an American bomb on her wedding day. Reshmina helps a wounded American soldier, making her village a Taliban target. In 2001, Brandon Chavez is spending the day with his father, who works at the World Trade Center’s Windows on the World restaurant. Brandon is heading to the underground mall when a plane piloted by al-Qaida hits the tower, and his father is among those killed. The two storylines develop in parallel through alternating chapters. Gratz’s deeply moving writing paints vivid images of the loss and fear of those who lived through the trauma of 9/11. However, this nuance doesn’t extend to the Afghan characters; Reshmina and Pasoon feel one-dimensional. Descriptions of the Taliban’s Afghan victims and Reshmina's gentle father notwithstanding, references to all young men eventually joining the Taliban and Pasoon's zeal for their cause counteract this messaging. Explanations for the U.S. military invasion of Afghanistan in the author’s note and in characters’ conversations too simplistically present the U.S. presence.
Falters in its oversimplified portrayal of a complicated region and people. (author’s note) (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-24575-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2021
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