Helpful and timely for children and their grown-ups.
Sophie and her grandfather figure out how to make wearing masks easier for themselves and their neighbors.
Sophie, a small girl, is inside her home with her grandfather watching the world change. Both have brown skin and dark, textured hair. He explains to her that “We all have to wear masks to keep everyone safe.” All her neighbors and the mail carrier are now wearing masks, just like the Hara family has always done outside, even before the pandemic. Most people are doing the things they always do—gardening, riding bikes, and playing—but she cannot see their smiles. Grandpa says that change is hard, and friends can help. This gives Sophie an idea. They both stay up late, sketching and sewing, and the following day, they surprise the neighbors with personalized gifts to make the change easier. As Sophie grows from worry and confusion to understanding and helping, readers learn to name feelings they may be experiencing themselves. The people who live on Sophie’s street are racially and ethnically diverse, and her neighbors are friendly. The bright illustrations use clean lines, white space, and swaths of texture to depict a close-knit community of personalities who care for one another and commit to the common good. Powerful in its simplicity, this story contains lots of social and emotional learning in a small package. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-18-inch double-page spreads viewed at 64.2% of actual size.)
Helpful and timely for children and their grown-ups. (Picture book. 3-9)Pub Date: Feb. 23, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5344-9785-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2021
Safe to creep on by.
Carle’s famous caterpillar expresses its love.
In three sentences that stretch out over most of the book’s 32 pages, the (here, at least) not-so-ravenous larva first describes the object of its love, then describes how that loved one makes it feel before concluding, “That’s why… / I[heart]U.” There is little original in either visual or textual content, much of it mined from The Very Hungry Caterpillar. “You are… / …so sweet,” proclaims the caterpillar as it crawls through the hole it’s munched in a strawberry; “…the cherry on my cake,” it says as it perches on the familiar square of chocolate cake; “…the apple of my eye,” it announces as it emerges from an apple. Images familiar from other works join the smiling sun that shone down on the caterpillar as it delivers assurances that “you make… / …the sun shine brighter / …the stars sparkle,” and so on. The book is small, only 7 inches high and 5 ¾ inches across when closed—probably not coincidentally about the size of a greeting card. While generations of children have grown up with the ravenous caterpillar, this collection of Carle imagery and platitudinous sentiment has little of his classic’s charm. The melding of Carle’s caterpillar with Robert Indiana’s iconic LOVE on the book’s cover, alas, draws further attention to its derivative nature.
Safe to creep on by. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Dec. 15, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-448-48932-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
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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