Readers who like comics with a storyline will look forward to further refreshingly non-saccharine tales of these three...
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
Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on...
Continuing from their acclaimed Those Shoes (2007), Boelts and Jones entwine conversations on money, motives, and morality.
This second collaboration between author and illustrator is set within an urban multicultural streetscape, where brown-skinned protagonist Ruben wishes for a bike like his friend Sergio’s. He wishes, but Ruben knows too well the pressure his family feels to prioritize the essentials. While Sergio buys a pack of football cards from Sonny’s Grocery, Ruben must buy the bread his mom wants. A familiar lady drops what Ruben believes to be a $1 bill, but picking it up, to his shock, he discovers $100! Is this Ruben’s chance to get himself the bike of his dreams? In a fateful twist, Ruben loses track of the C-note and is sent into a panic. After finally finding it nestled deep in a backpack pocket, he comes to a sense of moral clarity: “I remember how it was for me when that money that was hers—then mine—was gone.” When he returns the bill to her, the lady offers Ruben her blessing, leaving him with double-dipped emotions, “happy and mixed up, full and empty.” Readers will be pleased that there’s no reward for Ruben’s choice of integrity beyond the priceless love and warmth of a family’s care and pride.
Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on children. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6649-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for...
A gentle voice and familiar pitfalls characterize this tale of a boy navigating the risky road to responsibility.
Gavin is new to his neighborhood and Carver Elementary. He likes his new friend, Richard, and has a typically contentious relationship with his older sister, Danielle. When Gavin’s desire to impress Richard sets off a disastrous chain of events, the boy struggles to evade responsibility for his actions. “After all, it isn’t his fault that Danielle’s snow globe got broken. Sure, he shouldn’t have been in her room—but then, she shouldn’t be keeping candy in her room to tempt him. Anybody would be tempted. Anybody!” opines Gavin once he learns the punishment for his crime. While Gavin has a charming Everyboy quality, and his aversion to Aunt Myrtle’s yapping little dog rings true, little about Gavin distinguishes him from other trouble-prone protagonists. He is, regrettably, forgettable. Coretta Scott King Honor winner English (Francie, 1999) is a teacher whose storytelling usually benefits from her day job. Unfortunately, the pizzazz of classroom chaos is largely absent from this series opener.
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for subsequent volumes. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: Dec. 17, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-547-97044-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2013
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