Tenderly reassuring and useful for sparking curiosity.
An inquisitive child has many questions as a family prepares to move.
Mother, who has warm brown skin and black curly hair just like the young narrator’s, “always says, It’s okay, just ask.” And the protagonist obliges, posing questions as the family packs up boxes, boards an airplane, and relocates to a coastal setting with mountains in the distance. Some queries are typical for a story about moving: “Will we ever come back?” “What if I don’t make any friends?” Others break new ground. When the child asks Mother, “Are you okay?” she becomes surprisingly vulnerable in her honest answer: “Not completely.” Offering Mother a hug, the child becomes the parent for a moment—a welcome reversal in a text rooted in an adult’s instructions. Perera’s illustrations feel intimate, from the family’s expressive faces to the details of their new home: an Inuit inuksuk, the hockey game they watch on TV. Saturated earth tones portray a peaceful but somewhat homogenous suburb, which inspires the protagonist to ask, “Why is my hair black?” The mother answers, “That’s how you were made,” hewing to the book’s evenhanded tone. The comforting refrain of “It’s okay, just ask” persists throughout the story, dovetailing with the child’s articulations of wise emotional responses. The tale doesn’t contain a great deal of drama, but the message will certainly sink in.
Tenderly reassuring and useful for sparking curiosity. (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9781771476140
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Owlkids Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2024
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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