Young readers will find much to enjoy in this tale of a winning little girl and her family—hooray indeed!
Bright and cheerful Lolo is the star of the show in this new chapter-book series from South Africa.
Lolo is a little black girl who lives with her mother and grandmother. Lolo is a sensitive child but takes reassurance from the love of her mother and Gogo. In the first chapter, “A Gold Star and a Kiss for Lolo,” Lolo is impatient for the Star Awards at school that afternoon: “During music, Lolo couldn’t wait for the last line of a new song to end. Waiting for Star Awards was painful.” This feeling of eagerness for one’s favorite part of the day will be familiar to young readers. The events in Lolo’s world revolve around school, home, and her community—like most children in early elementary school. Children will find a sense of security in the love that Lolo receives from Gogo, her mother, and the people who live in their community. Volume 2, Hooray for Lolo, publishes simultaneously. It includes a chapter in which Lolo is treated for appendicitis. After being sick for so long, it takes a while for Lolo to reclaim her winning smile, but she manages, and all is well. These two books offer eight easy-to-read chapters between them, almost every page decorated in grayscale with Daly’s trademark loose, humorous cartoons.
Young readers will find much to enjoy in this tale of a winning little girl and her family—hooray indeed! (Fiction. 5-9)Pub Date: May 12, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9463953-3-7
Page Count: 78
Publisher: Catalyst Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 25, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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