From script to spotlight, a playful glimpse into the world of moviemaking.
Norah Rose is determined to make movie magic from scratch, but where to start?
Norah Rose’s grandfather isn’t feeling well, and she’s disappointed that their beloved movie nights have been put on hold. That’s when she has the brilliant idea to make a film of her own to share with Grandpa. She begins by writing the script, a gripping story about treasure hunters set right in her hometown of Kansas City. Casting her cousins in the lead roles and relying on a $25 costume budget from Mom, Norah Rose steps behind the lens of a smartphone, and then…lights, camera, action! With determination, creativity, and a lot of quick thinking (how can she shoot her final scene amid a surprise rainstorm?!), Norah Rose eventually makes a movie she’s proud of. She invites the whole neighborhood for a special screening, with Grandpa as the guest of honor. Colorful digital illustrations move the story along, showing familiar Kansas City landmarks and featuring an enthusiastic Norah Rose hard at work. Norah Rose and her family and community are Black. Some longer passages of text slow the story, but practical tips and tricks featured in the backmatter will be of interest to aspiring movie makers.
From script to spotlight, a playful glimpse into the world of moviemaking. (author’s note) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2025
ISBN: 9780593858301
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kokila
Review Posted Online: June 13, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
Though told by two outsiders to the culture, this timely and well-crafted story will educate readers on the preciousness of...
An international story tackles a serious global issue with Reynolds’ characteristic visual whimsy.
Gie Gie—aka Princess Gie Gie—lives with her parents in Burkina Faso. In her kingdom under “the African sky, so wild and so close,” she can tame wild dogs with her song and make grass sway, but despite grand attempts, she can neither bring the water closer to home nor make it clean. French words such as “maintenant!” (now!) and “maman” (mother) and local color like the karite tree and shea nuts place the story in a French-speaking African country. Every morning, Gie Gie and her mother perch rings of cloth and large clay pots on their heads and walk miles to the nearest well to fetch murky, brown water. The story is inspired by model Georgie Badiel, who founded the Georgie Badiel Foundation to make clean water accessible to West Africans. The details in Reynolds’ expressive illustrations highlight the beauty of the West African landscape and of Princess Gie Gie, with her cornrowed and beaded hair, but will also help readers understand that everyone needs clean water—from the children of Burkina Faso to the children of Flint, Michigan.
Though told by two outsiders to the culture, this timely and well-crafted story will educate readers on the preciousness of potable water. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-17258-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
A retro-futuristic romp, literally and figuratively screwy.
Robo-parents Diode and Lugnut present daughter Cathode with a new little brother—who requires, unfortunately, some assembly.
Arriving in pieces from some mechanistic version of Ikea, little Flange turns out to be a cute but complicated tyke who immediately falls apart…and then rockets uncontrollably about the room after an overconfident uncle tinkers with his basic design. As a squad of helpline techies and bevies of neighbors bearing sludge cake and like treats roll in, the cluttered and increasingly crowded scene deteriorates into madcap chaos—until at last Cath, with help from Roomba-like robodog Sprocket, stages an intervention by whisking the hapless new arrival off to a backyard workshop for a proper assembly and software update. “You’re such a good big sister!” warbles her frazzled mom. Wiesner’s robots display his characteristic clean lines and even hues but endearingly look like vaguely anthropomorphic piles of random jet-engine parts and old vacuum cleaners loosely connected by joints of armored cable. They roll hither and thither through neatly squared-off panels and pages in infectiously comical dismay. Even the end’s domestic tranquility lasts only until Cathode spots the little box buried in the bigger one’s packing material: “TWINS!” (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-22-inch double-page spreads viewed at 52% of actual size.)
A retro-futuristic romp, literally and figuratively screwy. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-544-98731-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2020
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