A joyful story about standing up for loved ones and the power of community.
A young Latine American girl uses her voice to fight for her community in this children’s picture book.
Belinda, a young Latine girl in Washington, D.C., loves the music of the Latin diaspora, from Dominican bachata to Mexican ranchera. Her aunt Sofía, a second mother to her, was a beloved local singer who has died, and the memory makes Belinda too sad to sing (“When we lost her, I felt like I lost…everything”). Her grandmother lives in a lively community with a mural honoring Sofía, but the local government wants to tear it down to build a new restaurant. Belinda and her family stage a community party as protest, and when a representative of the new restaurant threatens the good time, Belinda realizes the impact her voice can have. This story was written in a collaboration between the publisher and three teen girls (Luisa Orellana-Castillo, Brizel Martinez Cruz, and Camila Melany De la Luz Villegas) at the D.C. Latin American Youth Center. The care they’ve taken with the project is evident in the diversity of the skin tones of the characters, the depictions of intergenerational families, and the appreciations of cultural staples such as food and music. Montero’s vibrant digital illustrations complement the themes of cultural pride and celebration and lend a fanciful quality to the more serious themes of grief and gentrification.
A joyful story about standing up for loved ones and the power of community.Pub Date: Oct. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781950807642
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Shout Mouse Press
Review Posted Online: April 2, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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