Useful, perhaps, for conflict resolution, if not ground-breaking.
Neighbors Bear and Woodpecker exchange a few choice words.
“Bear needed a lot of sleep. Two hundred and forty-three and a half days to be precise. Anything less and he turned grizzly.” However, Bear is a light sleeper, so just to make sure he’s not disturbed, he hangs signs and makes a soundproof front door out of some local trees. He drifts off to sleep—but not for long. Woodpecker is aghast to find that some of the best houses he has created with his pecking are gone. The trail of debris leads to Bear’s door. Woodpecker pecks up a ruckus, and a cranky Bear calls him a “featherbutt.” The woodland gossips are a-twitter, and it gets back to Woodpecker. Woodpecker is initially angry but then begins to sniffle (while continuing to peck), which annoys Bear and leads to another angry exchange. Woodpecker calls Bear “fuzzybutt,” now hurting Bear’s feelings. After a mutual apology, the erstwhile enemies become friends, working together to make sure Bear gets his sleep and Woodpecker can create his houses some distance away. Batori’s slightly anthropomorphized illustrations of chunky forest creatures suit Newman’s tale of name-calling and reconciliation. Listeners likely won’t settle their own arguments so quickly, but they can try to follow Bear and Woodpecker’s example. And they will love the many iterations of butt. (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-22-inch double-page spreads viewed at 57.1% of actual size.)
Useful, perhaps, for conflict resolution, if not ground-breaking. (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: March 15, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5341-1073-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
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
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.
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
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