A book that creatively glances backward and forward, offering hope for an America that wants to be post-racial but isn’t...
A book that gives voice to a little-known piece of history.
In this illustrated free-verse poem, the African-American speaker (and author) remembers the candy and parakeets sold at Woolworth’s, but he also recalls enjoying lunch there with his best friend, a white boy named Tod. Unbeknownst to the boys, others had fought civil rights battles at that same lunch counter only a few years prior. Lansana’s verses traverse two geographical areas—Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Greensboro, North Carolina—and three time periods: 1958, when Clara Luper, an Oklahoma City civil rights activist, staged a sit-in with several young NAACP member in Katz Drug Store; the mid-1970s, when desegregation closed Lansana’s school and sent him to Tod’s, where they became friends; and 1993, when the Greensboro Woolworth’s closed, later to become the International Civil Rights Center and Museum. Lansana’s erasure of geographical and temporal boundaries may confuse readers, but it emphasizes that civil rights battles happened not just in the South, but across the nation. The backmatter covers desegregation milestones that will give readers a deeper understanding of the story. Hill’s artwork alternates among black-and-white, sepia-and-white, partially covered, and full-color illustrations to draw readers’ attention to what was and what is.
A book that creatively glances backward and forward, offering hope for an America that wants to be post-racial but isn’t yet. (Picture book. 5-10)Pub Date: Oct. 11, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-9972219-1-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Penny Candy
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A charming friendship story and great setup for future books.
Curious about the Big Wide World outside his Sasquatch community, Hugo makes a friend who is of it.
Sasquatch Hugo’s bedroom is inside a cave and possesses the charming feature of a small stream running through it that he can sail his little toy boat on. It’s cool, but he yearns to see the Big Wide World. When he asks his smart friend Gigi if a Sasquatch might become a sailor, she says it’s possible but would be difficult—the primary rule of their people is to not be seen by Humans. Then, in everyone’s favorite Hide and Go Sneak class, which is held outside, a Human appears; Hugo laughs at the sight, drawing Human attention in a taboo-breaking mistake. Shortly after, Hugo’s toy boat floats into the cave with a Human toy—soon, it’s facilitating a pen-pal–type relationship that’s derailed when Hugo confesses to being a Sasquatch and Human Boone, a budding cryptozoologist, doesn’t believe him. How Hugo and Boone resolve this misapprehension and become friends in a joint search for the Ogopogo concludes this series opener. Potter keeps the third-person narrative tightly focused on Hugo’s perspective, and the details she uses to flesh out the Sasquatch world are delightfully playful. Sala’s drawings depict a homey Sasquatch cavern community, Boone as a freckled, white boy, and Hugo as a hairily benevolent behemoth.
A charming friendship story and great setup for future books. (final art unseen) (Fantasy. 5-9)Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2859-4
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018
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