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
A charming friendship story and great setup for future books.
Curious about the Big Wide World outside his Sasquatch community, Hugo makes a friend who is of it.
Sasquatch Hugo’s bedroom is inside a cave and possesses the charming feature of a small stream running through it that he can sail his little toy boat on. It’s cool, but he yearns to see the Big Wide World. When he asks his smart friend Gigi if a Sasquatch might become a sailor, she says it’s possible but would be difficult—the primary rule of their people is to not be seen by Humans. Then, in everyone’s favorite Hide and Go Sneak class, which is held outside, a Human appears; Hugo laughs at the sight, drawing Human attention in a taboo-breaking mistake. Shortly after, Hugo’s toy boat floats into the cave with a Human toy—soon, it’s facilitating a pen-pal–type relationship that’s derailed when Hugo confesses to being a Sasquatch and Human Boone, a budding cryptozoologist, doesn’t believe him. How Hugo and Boone resolve this misapprehension and become friends in a joint search for the Ogopogo concludes this series opener. Potter keeps the third-person narrative tightly focused on Hugo’s perspective, and the details she uses to flesh out the Sasquatch world are delightfully playful. Sala’s drawings depict a homey Sasquatch cavern community, Boone as a freckled, white boy, and Hugo as a hairily benevolent behemoth.
A charming friendship story and great setup for future books. (final art unseen) (Fantasy. 5-9)Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2859-4
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018
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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