Warm, poetic, and affirming.
Taussig assures disabled readers that they’re a vital part of “a world that wasn’t built with us in mind.”
As racially diverse children and adults with myriad physical, sensory, and cognitive disabilities play, learn, and love, the author lyrically celebrates their resilience and resourcefulness: “We live, we adapt, we defy.” Disabled people are not burdens, but burdened by a world “starved for creativity and flexibility.” Importantly, Taussig acknowledges that navigating such a world can be “exhausting” and encourages readers to rest. Though many youngsters may feel alone, the author explains, “There were revolutionaries thinking of you before you were born,” including advocates Judy Heumann, Haben Girma, and Alice Wong. Taussig promises, “You will always be worth fighting for.” She also highlights readers’ power to enrich, and even change, the world. With unique ways of moving and being, “We hold the clues for a thousand new games.” While readers may feel out of place at times, Taussig reassures them, “Darling, we are the very blueprints of Home”—a reference to accessible design. But above all, “We are always enough, just as we are.” In Fagan’s luminous, star-spangled scenes, people using wheelchairs, white canes, communication devices, and more radiate joy and community, countering assumptions about disabled people (such as “loss leaves no space for laughter”) and reminding readers that they’re “as dazzling as a sky full of stars.” Backmatter includes further information on the advocates mentioned and invites readers to research others, such as Ed Roberts.
Warm, poetic, and affirming. (author’s and illustrator’s notes) (Picture book. 4-10)Pub Date: April 1, 2025
ISBN: 9781728487700
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Carolrhoda
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
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
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
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.
