Needed, but there is still lots of room for better books to come.
A new board book about babies and toddlers with pairs of moms.
This title will help address the dearth of materials for young children with depictions of two-mom families. First-person, affirming text is delivered in a matter-of-fact voice detailing moments in the daily routine of a young child with two moms. “At the pool, my moms bounce me in the water. What a life!” reads a representative spread. The accompanying illustrations don’t follow one child and their parents, however. Instead, each spread shows a different child (or in some spreads two children) interacting with their moms. This opens up possibilities for racially diverse representation, and many impeccably dressed families depicted in the retro-style art by fashion illustrator Zenou appear multiracial. Diversity doesn’t include depictions of people with visible disabilities (apart from two moms wearing glasses), and adults appear uniformly slim and mostly cisgender. The companion title about children with two dads is similarly executed with a first-person child’s voice, racially diverse characters, and limited representation of other diversity. It is a pity for the baby and toddler audience that the illustrations do not embrace the blank backgrounds of cover art and instead fill every bit of space. Both titles will undoubtedly be scooped up by families seeking queer representation in board books.
Needed, but there is still lots of room for better books to come. (Board book. 6 mos.-2)Pub Date: March 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-525-58012-6
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: July 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
This delightful debut welcomes readers in like a house filled with love.
A 13-year-old biracial girl longs to build the house of her dreams.
For Lou Bulosan-Nelson, normal is her “gigantic extended family squished into Lola’s for every holiday imaginable.” She shares a bedroom with her Filipina mother, Minda—a former interior-design major and current nurse-to-be—in Lola Celina’s San Francisco home. From her deceased white father, Michael, Lou inherited “not-so-Filipino features,” his love for architecture, and some land. Lou’s quietude implies her keen eye for details, but her passion for creating with her hands resonates loudly. Pining for something to claim as her own, she plans to construct a house from the ground up. When her mom considers moving out of state for a potential job and Lou’s land is at risk of being auctioned off, Lou stays resilient, gathering support from both friends and family to make her dream a reality. Respicio authentically depicts the richness of Philippine culture, incorporating Filipino language, insights into Lou’s family history, and well-crafted descriptions of customs, such as the birdlike Tinikling dance and eating kamayan style (with one’s hands), throughout. Lou’s story gives voice to Filipino youth, addressing cultural differences, the importance of bayanihan (community), and the true meaning of home.
This delightful debut welcomes readers in like a house filled with love. (Fiction. 8-13)Pub Date: June 12, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5247-1794-0
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Wendy Lamb/Random
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
A wonderfully charming tale of family and sisters that anyone can bond with.
Two sisters who are constantly at odds take a family road trip that covers more ground—both literally and figuratively—than they expect.
After begging her parents for a sister, Raina gets more than she bargained for once Amara is born. From the moment she was brought home, Amara hasn’t been quite the cuddly playmate that Raina had hoped. As the years pass, the girls bicker constantly and apparently couldn’t be more unalike: Raina spends her time indoors underneath her headphones, and Amara loves animals and the outdoors. The girls, their mother and their little brother all pack up to drive to a family reunion, and it seems like the trip’s just going to be more of the same, with the girls incessantly picking on each other all the way from San Francisco to Colorado. However, when the trip doesn’t go quite as planned—for a number of reasons—the girls manage to find some common ground. Told in then-and-now narratives that are easily discernable in the graphic format, Telgemeier’s tale is laugh-out-loud funny (especially the story about the snake incident) and quietly serious all at once. Her rounded, buoyant art coupled with a masterful capacity for facial expressions complements the writing perfectly. Fans of her previous books Smile (2010) and Drama (2012) shouldn’t miss this one; it’s a winner.
A wonderfully charming tale of family and sisters that anyone can bond with. (Graphic memoir. 7-13)Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-545-54059-9
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2014
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