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BEMBO'S ZOO

Name: BEMBO'S ZOO
Author: Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich
ISBN: 0-8050-6382-X

illustrated by Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2000

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A publishing house's creative director frolics in the fields of type and graphic design, assembling a menagerie from upper and lower case alphabets of the graceful roman `Bembo` font. Using only the unmodified letters of each animal's name, de Vicq de Cumptich creates stylized but easily recognizable figures; a row of N's becomes the spines along a dragon's back, C's become a crab's claws, the peacock's tail is a whirl of e's and o's. Sharply contrasting colors and large, strongly drawn letter forms give every spread eyewidening visual impact, and like Suse MacDonald's Alphabatics (1986) or Leonard Everett Fisher's ABC Exhibit (1991), this will inspire appreciation both for its ingenuity and for its revelation of the subtle qualities that make letters beautiful. (Picture book. 7-9, adult)

Pub Date: April 1, 2000

ISBN: 0-8050-6382-X

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Henry Holt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2000

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS

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LITTLE DAYMOND LEARNS TO EARN

by Daymond John ; illustrated by Nicole Miles ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 21, 2023

It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.

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How to raise money for a coveted poster: put your friends to work!

John, founder of the FUBU fashion line and a Shark Tank venture capitalist, offers a self-referential blueprint for financial success. Having only half of the $10 he needs for a Minka J poster, Daymond forks over $1 to buy a plain T-shirt, paints a picture of the pop star on it, sells it for $5, and uses all of his cash to buy nine more shirts. Then he recruits three friends to decorate them with his design and help sell them for an unspecified amount (from a conveniently free and empty street-fair booth) until they’re gone. The enterprising entrepreneur reimburses himself for the shirts and splits the remaining proceeds, which leaves him with enough for that poster as well as a “brand-new business book,” while his friends express other fiscal strategies: saving their share, spending it all on new art supplies, or donating part and buying a (math) book with the rest. (In a closing summation, the author also suggests investing in stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrency.) Though Miles cranks up the visual energy in her sparsely detailed illustrations by incorporating bright colors and lots of greenbacks, the actual advice feels a bit vague. Daymond is Black; most of the cast are people of color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. (Picture book. 7-9)

Pub Date: March 21, 2023

ISBN: 978-0-593-56727-2

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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MATH CURSE

by Jon Scieszka & illustrated by Lane Smith ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1995

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An unsuspecting student falls victim to the Math Curse when her teacher notes that ``You can think of almost everything as a math problem.'' Suddenly, everything is: ``I wake up at 7:15. It takes me 10 minutes to get dressed, 15 minutes to eat my breakfast, and 1 minute to brush my teeth . . . if my bus leaves at 8:00, will I make it on time?'' If it's not a time problem, it's equivalents (``How many inches in a foot?''), multiplication, nondecimal numbers, money combinations, and more. What's the cure? It comes to her in a dream: A problem with an answer is no problem at all. Smith's big paintings-cum-collage are, as usual, way strange, perfectly complementing the wild, postmodern page design with concatenations of small objects, fragments, and geometric shapes and figures, all placed on dark, grainy backgrounds. Another calculated triumph from the fevered brows that brought forth The Stinky Cheese Man (1992) and other instant classics, this one with a bit of brainwork deftly woven in. Readers can check their answers on the back cover. (Picture book. 7-9)