Imagination and the magic of community togetherness join hands.
A child’s connection to the natural world results in an enchanted night.
On the drive to school, Arabella’s parents, after spotting a stag and a doe in a cornfield, repeat the stories they were once told by their grandparents. Mama and Papa note that deer can be “tricksters,” taking human shape to mingle with people. Later, Arabella impulsively invites the wild couple to the harvest dance, which the students are excitedly getting ready for. The deer just stare, but at the dance, a “lovely pair” of graceful strangers appear. Parents and children admire and wonder as the couple waltz. As they leave, they offer Arabella (and readers) a clue to their amazing secret. Preparing us for the spell ahead, Morel’s prose animates the setting: Autumn “trotted into the valley on frosty hooves”; “apples blushed red.” Her language is both poetic and deeply rooted in the real world of farm and forest: The deer’s coats are “the color of ash and earth; their ears, the shade of cow’s cream.” The farmyard setting is traditional, but refreshingly, Papa makes dinner while Arabella and Mama do the barn chores. Slightly stylized illustrations emphasize the tale’s timelessness: Some characters sport more modern clothes, while others look fairly old-fashioned. Miroslavova employs soft-edged lines drawn in muted, earthy colors; everything is autumnal. This unusual fall-themed book will attract both rural and urban romantics. Most characters are pale-skinned.
Imagination and the magic of community togetherness join hands. (Picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2025
ISBN: 9781534112865
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
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
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
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