In a word: outstanding.
“It’s a book! It’s a game! It’s Super Bookgame!”
As the cover art teases, this is both a game and a riddle book, with clever illustrations providing clues. This companion to Take Away the A (2014), created by the same team, immediately engages readers in the wordplay. The two pages following the title set the scene, as three white mice carting a pencil say, “Let’s go search for hidden words.” First up is the question, “Who is the headmaster?” The answer is the hamster, who is standing on a stack of books ringing a school bell. “Who is hiding behind the castle?” A cat’s ears poke up behind the toy structure. “Who is the clown?” A brown cow juggles the three mice. The answers are found in the color of the type: the dropped letters are set in black, and the remaining, red letters form the new word. All of the characters are creatures of one sort or another, and the three impish mice appear in each scene. One peeks out of a crayon box while the other two tie a string on the cat’s tail; they play at folding paper on the page where a snake makes snowflakes. All together, the textured, humorous illustrations tell a story about a boisterous day in an elementary school, culminating in a slate-blue bird’s birthday—that’s crashed by a baboon: “BOO!” The interplay on the pages is whimsical, charming, and overflowing with fun.
In a word: outstanding. (Picture book. 5-12)Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-59270-189-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Enchanted Lion Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 25, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2015
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
Quietly contemplative and thoroughly lovely.
A child finds adventure and a change of perspective on a dreary day.
Clouds cover everything in a palette of unending gray, creating a sense of ennui and gloom. A child stands alone, head down, feeling as gray as the day, and decides to ride through town on an old bike. Pops of color throughout the grayscale illustrations go unnoticed—there are yellow leaves scattered about, and the parking lot is filled with bright yellow buses, but this child, who has skin the grayish white of the page, sees only the empty playground, creaky swings, a sad merry-go-round, and lonely seesaws. But look—there’s a narrow winding path just beyond the fence, something to explore. There are things to be noticed, leaves to be crunched, and discoveries to be made. Imagination takes over, along with senses of wonderment and calm, as the child watches a large blue bird fly over the area. The ride home is quite different, joyful and filled with color previously ignored, reaffirming the change in the rider’s outlook. The descriptive, spare text filled with imagery and onomatopoeia is well aligned with well-rendered art highlighting all the colors that brighten the not-so-gray day and allowing readers to see what the protagonist struggles to understand, that “anything can happen…on a gray day.” (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Quietly contemplative and thoroughly lovely. (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781797210896
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
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