Will empower kids to realize they, too, can be poets.
Poets find words everywhere.
Lucy, a young child, and an older neighbor whom Lucy calls “my poet” look for words as they walk together on the first day of summer vacation. Lucy notes that the poet—inspired by poet Mary Oliver—uses rich language to describe objects, and Lucy wonders where the poet’s words and ideas come from. Lucy ponders and closely observes the poet. Narrated by Lucy in first person, this quiet, gentle tale suggests that evocative language emerges when one opens oneself to commonplace visual, auditory, and tactile experiences all around. Doing so invites rich streams of wonderful words—hence, poetry. Lucy demonstrates an understanding of this principle while waxing poetic at the sight of a web-spinning spider. The poet acknowledges that she appreciates Lucy’s effort. “You’re finding your words,” she tells the child. As “proof,” the book concludes with a lovely poem from Lucy. The late MacLachlan’s sweet, quiet story will work best for contemplative readers. Children enjoy toying with language, and this book validates their playful enjoyment of and experiments with wordplay. A fun follow-up to a classroom or library read-aloud could include having children describe familiar objects in imaginative, poetic ways. The simple, endearing gouache illustrations ably suit the narrative. The protagonists are light-skinned; other characters are diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Will empower kids to realize they, too, can be poets. (author’s note) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-297114-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2022
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
Inspiration, shrink wrapped.
From an artist, poet, and Instagram celebrity, a pep talk for all who question where a new road might lead.
Opening by asking readers, “Have you ever wanted to go in a different direction,” the unnamed narrator describes having such a feeling and then witnessing the appearance of a new road “almost as if it were magic.” “Where do you lead?” the narrator asks. The Road’s twice-iterated response—“Be a leader and find out”—bookends a dialogue in which a traveler’s anxieties are answered by platitudes. “What if I fall?” worries the narrator in a stylized, faux hand-lettered type Wade’s Instagram followers will recognize. The Road’s dialogue and the narration are set in a chunky, sans-serif type with no quotation marks, so the one flows into the other confusingly. “Everyone falls at some point, said the Road. / But I will always be there when you land.” Narrator: “What if the world around us is filled with hate?” Road: “Lead it to love.” Narrator: “What if I feel stuck?” Road: “Keep going.” De Moyencourt illustrates this colloquy with luminous scenes of a small, brown-skinned child, face turned away from viewers so all they see is a mop of blond curls. The child steps into an urban mural, walks along a winding country road through broad rural landscapes and scary woods, climbs a rugged metaphorical mountain, then comes to stand at last, Little Prince–like, on a tiny blue and green planet. Wade’s closing claim that her message isn’t meant just for children is likely superfluous…in fact, forget the just.
Inspiration, shrink wrapped. (Picture book. 6-8, adult)Pub Date: March 23, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-250-26949-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: April 7, 2021
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