Celebrate a truly accepting multicultural character.
Brown introduces a smart, young protagonist with a multicultural background in this series opener for chapter-book readers.
Second-grader Lola Levine is half-Peruvian and half-Jewish; she is a skilled soccer player, a persuasive writer, and aspires to own a cat in the near future should her parents concede. During a friendly recess soccer match, Lola, playing goalie, defends an incoming ball by coming out of her box and accidentally fouls a classmate. And so Lola acquires the rhyming nickname Mean Lola Levine. Through Lola’s first-person narration, readers see clearly how her savvy and creativity come from her family: Dad, who paints, Mom, who writes, and a fireball younger brother. She also wears her bicultural identity easily. In her narration, her letters to her friends, and dialogue, Lola easily inserts such words as diario, tía, bubbe, and shalom. For dinner, the family eats matzo ball soup, Peruvian chicken, and flan. Interspersed throughout the story are references to all-star soccer athletes, from Brazilian master Pelé to Mia Hamm, Briana Scurry, and David Beckham. Dominguez’s black-and-white illustrations are cheery and appealing, depicting a long-haired Caucasian father and dark-skinned, black-haired mother. Typefaces that emulate penmanship appropriately differ from character to character: Lola’s is small and clean, her mother’s is tall and slanted, while Juan’s, the injured classmate, is sloppy and lacks finesse.
Celebrate a truly accepting multicultural character. (Fiction. 6-10)Pub Date: Nov. 3, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-316-25836-4
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Amusing, yes. Useful for reading practice, yes, but not necessarily guaranteed to make new readers the “read-i-est.” (Early...
Elephant and Piggie make an appearance to introduce the first in their new series, an egalitarian introduction to superlatives.
Each one of seven blades of talking grass—of a total of eight—discovers that it is superb at something: it’s tallest, curliest, silliest, and so forth. The humor aims to appeal to a broad spectrum. It is slightly disturbing that one being eaten by purple bugs is proud of being the crunchiest, but that will certainly appeal to a slice of the audience. The eighth blade of grass is grappling with a philosophical identity crisis; its name is Walt, a sly reference to Whitman's Leaves of Grass that will go right over the heads of beginning readers but may amuse astute parents or teachers. Tension builds with the approach of a lawn mower; the blades of grass lose their unique features when they are trimmed to equal heights. Mercifully, they are chopped off right above the eyes and can continue their silly banter. Departing from the image of a Whitman-esque free spirit, Walt now discovers he is the neatest. Lots of speech bubbles, repetition, and clear layout make this entry a useful addition to lessons on adjectives and superlatives while delivering a not-so-subtle message that everyone is good at something. Elephant and Piggie's final assertion that “this book is the FUNNIEST” doesn't necessarily make it so, however.
Amusing, yes. Useful for reading practice, yes, but not necessarily guaranteed to make new readers the “read-i-est.” (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4847-2635-8
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A new series starring a whimsical protagonist certain to endear herself to readers.
Voluble third grader Millicent Magnus Miller makes her series debut.
Dubbed “quirky” by her mother (an assessment readers will likely agree with), Millie narrates her own well-paced story in a flow of verbiage she often has trouble stemming. She is “the boss” but defers to her mom, who happens to be the mayor of Washington, D.C. Mayor Maude’s a single parent (Millie’s father is dead), but her assistant, Josephine Draper, adds more rules, like insisting that Millie’s pet chick, Extra Spicy, live in the coop outside. Millie and her “bestest friends,” Lunchbox, Poppy Anne, and Atticus, also face a sneaky, name-calling bully, Buckley. (Mazique drops an early clue: Only recently has Buckley “become so mean.”) Other conflicts involve Millie learning she can’t take Extra Spicy to the school’s Family Field Day and competing against Buckley in the three-legged race. It strains credulity somewhat that both teacher and principal fail to get Millie’s side of the bullying story, but Mazique gives Millie a relatable awareness of her struggles with impulse control, like “not being quiet and not sitting in my seat.” Eventually things improve in a teachable turnaround that’s a bit abrupt but still moving. Glenn’s realistic cartoon-style drawings portray Mille, her family, the principal, and Atticus as Black; the teacher, Poppy Anne, and Buckley as white; and Lunchbox as East Asian.
A new series starring a whimsical protagonist certain to endear herself to readers. (Chapter book. 6-9)Pub Date: Dec. 17, 2024
ISBN: 9780593618776
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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