A good-hearted, if slightly unsettling, tale of unlikely pals.
After a spider is mistaken for a kitten, he attempts to keep up the ruse.
“A big, hairy spider” moves into an old house sure to contain appropriately dark nooks. He weaves a web under a sofa, but homeowner Betty finds him, decides he’s an adorable kitten, and names him Luigi. As Betty plays with the spider and prepares a special bed for him, he warms to the idea of being Luigi the kitten; kittens seem to lead “magical lives.” He starts fearing that Betty will realize her mistake and banish him, so he does his best to be as felinelike as possible. But when the secret’s revealed, Betty reassures Luigi that she knew he was a spider all along and thought he was only having “fun pretending to be a kitten,” and the pair live companionably ever after. While the sentiment—find someone who will “like you for who you really are”—is timeless, the complicated charade, where each character pretends for the other, is convoluted, and the message is somewhat hidden within the protracted text. Perhaps the most polarizing factor will be Luigi himself. Hawkes has made the spider look really, well, spidery. There’s whimsy when Luigi is mimicking a kitten, but his lightly anthropomorphized form is going to be too creepily arachnid for some. The muted, dusty colors in acrylics and pencil don’t provide much warmth, though they do add spidery ambience. Betty presents white.
A good-hearted, if slightly unsettling, tale of unlikely pals. (Picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: March 5, 2024
ISBN: 9781536219111
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
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
Charming.
An assortment of unusual characters form friendships and help each other become their best selves.
Mr. and Mrs. Tupper, who live at Number 3 Ramshorn Drive, are antiquarians. Their daughter, Jillian, loves and cares for a plant named Ivy, who has “three speckles on each leaf and three letters in her name.” Toasty, the grumpy goldfish, lives in an octagonal tank and wishes he were Jillian’s favorite; when Arthur the spider arrives inside an antique desk, he brings wisdom and insight. Ollie the violet plant, Louise the bee, and Sunny the canary each arrive with their own quirks and problems to solve. Each character has a distinct personality and perspective; sometimes they clash, but more often they learn to empathize, see each other’s points of view, and work to help one another. They also help the Tupper family with bills and a burglar. The Fan brothers’ soft-edged, old-fashioned, black-and-white illustrations depict Toasty and Arthur with tiny hats; Ivy and Ollie have facial expressions on their plant pots. The Tuppers have paper-white skin and dark hair. The story comes together like a recipe: Simple ingredients combine, transform, and rise into something wonderful. In its matter-of-fact wisdom, rich vocabulary (often defined within the text), hint of magic, and empathetic nonhuman characters who solve problems in creative ways, this delightful work is reminiscent of Ferris by Kate DiCamillo, Our Friend Hedgehog by Lauren Castillo, and Ivy Lost and Found by Cynthia Lord and Stephanie Graegin.
Charming. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: May 27, 2025
ISBN: 9781665942485
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
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