by Roald Kaldestad ; illustrated by Bjorn Rune Lie translated by Rosie Hedger ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 15, 2016
Eloquent, poignant, this is for sensitive young readers who are missing old friends but ready to admit new ones.
A boy misses his best friend whenever it rains. And there have been 269 days of rain since she moved away a year ago.
In this atmospheric tale translated from the original Norwegian, the rain reflects his melancholy. Full-bleed art awash in grays deepens the feeling, and the boy appears almost exclusively alone. Even in the classroom his loneliness is visceral. Mom is mentioned, and Dad appears in the picture sometimes, but they seem remote too. He wishes he had a cat to curl up in his lap. When the doorbell rings, it’s not his friend but the letter carrier—with a welcome package from his very best friend: chocolate and a playful note. This brings back fond memories. “She made the sun rise and shine within him.” The gorgeous, image-rich text and the repetition of phrases drive home his sadness…and hope. Finally, the sky is blue and a car pulls up in front of his friend’s old house. A new girl carrying a cat in her arms steps out. The cover illustration, of the boy and his friend “playing Indian,” repeats an inside spread and will likely give many North American readers pause.
Eloquent, poignant, this is for sensitive young readers who are missing old friends but ready to admit new ones. (Picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2016
ISBN: 978-3-89955-773-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Little Gestalten
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
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by Suzy Kline ; illustrated by Amy Wummer ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 27, 2018
A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode.
A long-running series reaches its closing chapters.
Having, as Kline notes in her warm valedictory acknowledgements, taken 30 years to get through second and third grade, Harry Spooger is overdue to move on—but not just into fourth grade, it turns out, as his family is moving to another town as soon as the school year ends. The news leaves his best friend, narrator “Dougo,” devastated…particularly as Harry doesn’t seem all that fussed about it. With series fans in mind, the author takes Harry through a sort of last-day-of-school farewell tour. From his desk he pulls a burned hot dog and other items that featured in past episodes, says goodbye to Song Lee and other classmates, and even (for the first time ever) leads Doug and readers into his house and memento-strewn room for further reminiscing. Of course, Harry isn’t as blasé about the move as he pretends, and eyes aren’t exactly dry when he departs. But hardly is he out of sight before Doug is meeting Mohammad, a new neighbor from Syria who (along with further diversifying a cast that began as mostly white but has become increasingly multiethnic over the years) will also be starting fourth grade at summer’s end, and planning a written account of his “horrible” buddy’s exploits. Finished illustrations not seen.
A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Nov. 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-451-47963-1
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2018
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by Deborah Zemke ; illustrated by Deborah Zemke ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 14, 2019
A funny and timely primer for budding activists.
Problems are afoot at Emily Dickinson Elementary School, and it’s up to Bea Garcia to gather the troops and fight.
Bea Garcia and her best friend, Judith Einstein, sit every day under the 250-year-old oak tree in their schoolyard and imagine a face in its trunk. They name it “Emily” after their favorite American poet. Bea loves to draw both real and imagined pictures of their favorite place—the squirrels in the tree, the branches that reach for the sky, the view from the canopy even though she’s never climbed that high. Until the day a problem boy does climb that high, pelting the kids with acorns and then getting stuck. Bert causes such a scene that the school board declares Emily a nuisance and decides to chop it down. Bea and Einstein rally their friends with environmental facts, poetry, and artwork to try to convince the adults in their lives to change their minds. Bea must enlist Bert if she wants her plan to succeed. Can she use her imagination and Bert’s love of monsters to get him in line? In Bea’s fourth outing, Zemke gently encourages her protagonist to grow from an artist into an activist. Her energy and passion spill from both her narration and her frequent cartoons, which humorously extend the text. Spanish-speaking Bea’s Latinx, Einstein and Bert present white, and their classmates are diverse.
A funny and timely primer for budding activists. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 6-9)Pub Date: May 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-7352-2941-9
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2019
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