LITTLE FRIENDS

Name: LITTLE FRIENDS
Author: Onur Tukel
ISBN: 978-0-7614-6260-6

by Onur Tukel & illustrated by Onur Tukel ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2012

Readers who like comics with a storyline will look forward to further refreshingly non-saccharine tales of these three...

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One tree plus three friends equals three quirky stories.

Sara and Louisa do everything together. Barry lives next door, but he is friendless. In the first story, he commandeers the tree at the top of the hill and refuses to share his tire swing with the girls. An argument escalates into near disaster when Barry cuts the rope to the girls’ swing, and they retaliate by cutting through most of his. The scary consequences bring the three together, initially awash in accusation and guilt, but ultimately friends. The second story takes place in winter and involves a fortress of snow, the tree and one amazing snowball fight. When spring returns, the tree is struck by lightning, and the buddies imagine a new life for the stump. Comic-book–style panels combined with full-page illustrations keep this universal story moving along at a nice clip. The three children are easy to tell apart—Sara sports a tan face and red pigtails, Louisa is brown-skinned with a bouncy black hairdo and Barry’s gray tint and wide, tooth-sprinkled mouth will amuse all readers. Each story has its own background color as well, brown for fall, blue for winter and green for spring.

Readers who like comics with a storyline will look forward to further refreshingly non-saccharine tales of these three friends. (Early reader. 5-9)

Pub Date: April 1, 2012

ISBN: 978-0-7614-6260-6

Page Count: 64

Publisher: Marshall Cavendish

Review Posted Online: Feb. 28, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2012

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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LITTLE DAYMOND LEARNS TO EARN

by Daymond John ; illustrated by Nicole Miles ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 21, 2023

It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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CLAYMATES

by Dev Petty ; illustrated by Lauren Eldridge ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 20, 2017

The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted...

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Reinvention is the name of the game for two blobs of clay.

A blue-eyed gray blob and a brown-eyed brown blob sit side by side, unsure as to what’s going to happen next. The gray anticipates an adventure, while the brown appears apprehensive. A pair of hands descends, and soon, amid a flurry of squishing and prodding and poking and sculpting, a handsome gray wolf and a stately brown owl emerge. The hands disappear, leaving the friends to their own devices. The owl is pleased, but the wolf convinces it that the best is yet to come. An ear pulled here and an extra eye placed there, and before you can shake a carving stick, a spurt of frenetic self-exploration—expressed as a tangled black scribble—reveals a succession of smug hybrid beasts. After all, the opportunity to become a “pig-e-phant” doesn’t come around every day. But the sound of approaching footsteps panics the pair of Picassos. How are they going to “fix [them]selves” on time? Soon a hippopotamus and peacock are staring bug-eyed at a returning pair of astonished hands. The creative naiveté of the “clay mates” is perfectly captured by Petty’s feisty, spot-on dialogue: “This was your idea…and it was a BAD one.” Eldridge’s endearing sculpted images are photographed against the stark white background of an artist’s work table to great effect.

The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted fun of their own . (Picture book. 5-8)