The important themes of charity and love come through strongly in this thoughtfully and playfully illustrated but plainly...
A well-known literary fairy tale about compassion, adapted and with new illustrations.
The Swallow’s lyrical speeches have been removed, leaving the basic outline of the story of a gold statue, the titular Happy Prince. As a living ruler, he admits that “I didn’t care what happened to my people.” Now concerned with his citizens, the gold statue asks the kind Swallow (pictured with a white, human face) to stay in the city instead of migrating to Egypt to escape the cold. The Happy Prince wants the Swallow to give his sword’s ruby to a brown-skinned seamstress so she can purchase “food and medicine for her poor son.” He asks the Swallow to carry his sapphire eye to a young, white writer who needs firewood and finally to take his other sapphire eye to a suffering, white match-girl. The Swallow selflessly declares that he cannot leave the blind Prince. Other charitable acts follow as the Swallow gives away the Prince’s gold leaf exterior, but the bird finally dies from the cold and the Mayor orders the now “shabby” statue to be destroyed. As a fit ending for the two true friends, one of God’s angels brings them to a Rousseau-like “garden of Paradise, together.” The bold, expressive, mixed-media illustrations have a childlike look and idiosyncratically include Egyptian palm trees and camels in the northern city. The detailed, busy, often humorous images are best appreciated one-on-one.
The important themes of charity and love come through strongly in this thoughtfully and playfully illustrated but plainly written adaptation. (Picture book. 7-10)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-500-65111-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
Deliberately inspirational and tinged with nostalgia, this will please fans but may strike others as overly idealistic.
Veteran picture-book creator Polacco tells another story from her childhood that celebrates the importance of staying true to one’s own interests and values.
After years of spending summers with her father and grandmother, narrator Trisha is excited to be spending the school year in Michigan with them. Unexpectedly abandoned by her summertime friends, Trisha quickly connects with fellow outsiders Thom and Ravanne, who may be familiar to readers from Polacco’s The Junkyard Wonders (2010). Throughout the school year, the three enjoy activities together and do their best to avoid school bully Billy. While a physical confrontation between Thom (aka “Sissy Boy”) and Billy does come, so does an opportunity for Thom to defy convention and share his talent with the community. Loosely sketched watercolor illustrations place the story in the middle of the last century, with somewhat old-fashioned clothing and an apparently all-White community. Trisha and her classmates appear to be what today would be called middle schoolers; a reference to something Trisha and her mom did when she was “only eight” suggests that several years have passed since that time. As usual, the lengthy first-person narrative is cozily conversational but includes some challenging vocabulary (textiles, lackeys, foretold). The author’s note provides a brief update about her friends’ careers and encourages readers to embrace their own differences. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-18-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Deliberately inspirational and tinged with nostalgia, this will please fans but may strike others as overly idealistic. (Picture book. 7-10)Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5344-2622-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020
The story feels a bit contrived, but Ada will be a welcome addition to the small circle of science-loving girls in the...
Using science and technology, third-grader Ada Lace kicks off her new series by solving a mystery even with her leg in a cast.
Temporarily housebound after a badly executed bungee jump, Ada uses binoculars to document the ecosystem of her new neighborhood in San Francisco. She records her observations in a field journal, a project that intrigues new friend Nina, who lives nearby. When they see that Ms. Reed’s dog, Marguerite, is missing, they leap to the conclusion that it has been stolen. Nina does the legwork and Ada provides the technology for their search for the dognapper. Story-crafting takes a back seat to scene-setting in this series kickoff that introduces the major players. As part of the series formula, science topics and gadgetry are integrated into the stories and further explained in a “Behind the Science” afterword. This installment incorporates drones, a wireless camera, gecko gloves, and the Turing test as well as the concept of an ecosystem. There are no ethnic indicators in the text, but the illustrations reveal that Ada, her family, and bratty neighbor Milton are white; Nina appears to be Southeast Asian; and Mr. Peebles, an inventor who lives nearby, is black.
The story feels a bit contrived, but Ada will be a welcome addition to the small circle of science-loving girls in the chapter-book world. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Aug. 29, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-8599-9
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2017
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