Rocket’s fans will enjoy this can-do kid’s return.
Rocket is back with an environmentally friendly message.
Series predecessor Rocket Says Look Up! (2019) encouraged readers to fix their imaginations on the stars. This sequel helps them to focus more terrestrially, on ocean pollution. With cool blues and warm and sandy tans, Adeola’s cheery illustrations offer a brightly hued contrast to the previous book. Rocket is a brown-skinned girl with cornrows billowing into two perfectly coiffed afro puffs. She, her mother, and her brother, Jamal, are visiting the children’s grandparents’ animal sanctuary, nestled on an undisclosed tropical island. As they build sand castles and surf the waves with their grandchildren, Grammy and Grampy offer lessons about interacting with wild animals and the looming threat of pollution on island shores. The fun is instantly usurped when a baby turtle washes ashore tangled in plastic. As Rocket learns just how bad the pollution problem is, she immediately vows to take action. Quick-witted Rocket sets out the very next day to educate beachgoers, and in no time, Rocket has a cleanup crew compiling a mass of trash. With creativity and community partnership, Rocket and her newfound friends find an artful purpose for the accumulated waste. Rocket’s whole family presents black, and the beachgoers are diverse. Included in the backmatter are resources to support and empower young readers.
Rocket’s fans will enjoy this can-do kid’s return. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-11899-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet, tender and charming experience to read aloud or together.
A clueless duckling tries to make a new friend.
He is confused by this peculiar-looking duck, who has a long tail, doesn’t waddle and likes to be alone. No matter how explicitly the creature denies he is a duck and announces that he is a cat, the duckling refuses to acknowledge the facts. When this creature expresses complete lack of interest in playing puddle stomp, the little ducking goes off and plays on his own. But the cat is not without remorse for rejecting an offered friendship. Of course it all ends happily, with the two new friends enjoying each other’s company. Bramsen employs brief sentences and the simplest of rhymes to tell this slight tale. The two heroes are meticulously drawn with endearing, expressive faces and body language, and their feathers and fur appear textured and touchable. Even the detailed tree bark and grass seem three-dimensional. There are single- and double-page spreads, panels surrounded by white space and circular and oval frames, all in a variety of eye-pleasing juxtapositions. While the initial appeal is solidly visual, young readers will get the gentle message that friendship is not something to take for granted but is to be embraced with open arms—or paws and webbed feet.
A sweet, tender and charming experience to read aloud or together. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-375-86990-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2012
Making friends isn’t always this easy and convenient.
How do you make a new friend when an old one moves away?
Buddy (from Sorry, Grown-Ups, You Can’t Go to School, 2019, etc.) is feeling lonely. His best friend just moved across town. To make matters worse, there is a field trip coming up, and Buddy needs a bus partner. His sister, Lady, has some helpful advice for making a new pal: “You just need to find something you have in common.” Buddy loves the game Robo Chargers and karate. Surely there is someone else who does, too! Unfortunately, there isn’t. However, when a new student arrives (one day later) and asks everyone to call her Sunny instead of Alison, Buddy gets excited. No one uses his given name, either; they just call him Buddy. He secretly whispers his “real, official name” to Sunny at lunch—an indication that a true friendship is being formed. The rest of the story plods merrily along, all pieces falling exactly into place (she even likes Robo Chargers!), accompanied by Bowers’ digital art, a mix of spot art and full-bleed illustrations. Friendship-building can be an emotionally charged event in a child’s life—young readers will certainly see themselves in Buddy’s plight—but, alas, there is not much storytelling magic to be found. Buddy and his family are White, Sunny and Mr. Teacher are Black, and Buddy’s other classmates are racially diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Making friends isn’t always this easy and convenient. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-30709-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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