by Piotr Parda ; illustrated by Piotr Parda ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2017
A possible discussion starter, though enigmatic to a fault.
A subtle reminder that education is a gift no amount of bullying can spoil.
Or at least that might be the point of this wordless, metaphorical head-scratcher. In a school situated in a drab neighborhood beneath tracks that are, in the first scene, being used to ship war materiel, a graduation ceremony is about to begin. As the students, depicted as elementary-age children, line up in their gowns, one sniggering graduate shoots a seed into the back of another’s head. The victim, smiling, picks up and pockets the seed. Later, after everyone else is swept away by proud parents, the bespectacled child adds the seed to a big jar full of similar ones, which are all then taken out to the schoolyard to plant in the cracks between paving stones. Parda depicts the setting and a racially and ethnically diverse cast of children and adults in dull or neutral tones, which sets up a vivid visual contrast as the seeds sprout, grow, and finally surround the school in a shining glory of golden sunflowers. In a final view the flowers are seen to be starting to spread, and the neighborhood looks a little less run-down.
A possible discussion starter, though enigmatic to a fault. (Picture book. 11-18)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-9913866-7-3
Page Count: 52
Publisher: Ripple Grove
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
Share your opinion of this book
More by Abraham Schroeder
BOOK REVIEW
by Abraham Schroeder ; illustrated by Piotr Parda
by Soman Chainani ; illustrated by Iacopo Bruno ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 21, 2015
Ultimately more than a little full of itself, but well-stocked with big themes, inventively spun fairy-tale tropes, and...
Good has won every fairy-tale contest with Evil for centuries, but a dark sorcerer’s scheme to turn the tables comes to fruition in this ponderous closer.
Broadening conflict swirls around frenemies Agatha and Sophie as the latter joins rejuvenated School Master Rafal, who has dispatched an army of villains from Capt. Hook to various evil stepmothers to take stabs (literally) at changing the ends of their stories. Meanwhile, amid a general slaughter of dwarves and billy goats, Agatha and her rigid but educable true love, Tedros, flee for protection to the League of Thirteen. This turns out to be a company of geriatric versions of characters, from Hansel and Gretel (in wheelchairs) to fat and shrewish Cinderella, led by an enigmatic Merlin. As the tale moves slowly toward climactic battles and choices, Chainani further lightens the load by stuffing it with memes ranging from a magic ring that must be destroyed and a “maleficent” gown for Sophie to this oddly familiar line: “Of all the tales in all the kingdoms in all the Woods, you had to walk into mine.” Rafal’s plan turns out to be an attempt to prove that love can be twisted into an instrument of Evil. Though the proposition eventually founders on the twin rocks of true friendship and family ties, talk of “balance” in the aftermath at least promises to give Evil a fighting chance in future fairy tales. Bruno’s polished vignettes at each chapter’s head and elsewhere add sophisticated visual notes.
Ultimately more than a little full of itself, but well-stocked with big themes, inventively spun fairy-tale tropes, and flashes of hilarity. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: July 21, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-210495-3
Page Count: 672
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 25, 2015
Share your opinion of this book
More In The Series
by Soman Chainani ; illustrated by Iacopo Bruno
by Soman Chainani ; illustrated by Iacopo Bruno
More by Soman Chainani
BOOK REVIEW
by Soman Chainani ; illustrated by RaidesArt
BOOK REVIEW
by Soman Chainani ; illustrated by RaidesArt
BOOK REVIEW
by Soman Chainani ; illustrated by Julia Iredale
by Paolo Bacigalupi ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 10, 2013
Not for the faint of heart or stomach (or maybe of any parts) but sure to be appreciated by middle school zombie cognoscenti.
Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle meets Left for Dead/The Walking Dead/Shaun of the Dead in a high-energy, high-humor look at the zombie apocalypse, complete with baseball (rather than cricket) bats.
The wholesome-seeming Iowa cornfields are a perfect setting for the emergence of ghastly anomalies: flesh-eating cows and baseball-coach zombies. The narrator hero, Rabi (for Rabindranath), and his youth baseball teammates and friends, Miguel and Joe, discover by chance that all is not well with their small town’s principal industry: the Milrow corporation’s giant feedlot and meat-production and -packing facility. The ponds of cow poo and crammed quarters for the animals are described in gaggingly smelly detail, and the bone-breaking, bloody, flesh-smashing encounters with the zombies have a high gross-out factor. The zombie cows and zombie humans who emerge from the muck are apparently a product of the food supply gone cuckoo in service of big-money profits with little concern for the end result. It’s up to Rabi and his pals to try to prove what’s going on—and to survive the corporation’s efforts to silence them. Much as Bacigalupi’s Ship Breaker (2010) was a clarion call to action against climate change, here’s a signal alert to young teens to think about what they eat, while the considerable appeal of the characters and plot defies any preachiness.
Not for the faint of heart or stomach (or maybe of any parts) but sure to be appreciated by middle school zombie cognoscenti. (Fiction. 11-14)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-316-22078-1
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: June 25, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2013
Share your opinion of this book
More by Paolo Bacigalupi
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.