by Sarah Stewart & illustrated by David Small ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 11, 2004
A poor little rich girl, ignored by her busy parents, finds companionship with the family’s live-in African-American housekeeper. Small’s loose ink-and-watercolor illustrations depict a bespectacled, knobby-kneed little Belle and a doughy, mountainous Bea, while rhyming couplets take the pair through the chores of the week, every day ending with a walk from the mansion to the beach: “Belle and Bea, hand in hand, to the sea.” The illustrations far surpass the lockstep text, investing gentle humor in the carrying-out of the chores and allowing wordless double-page spreads of Belle and Bea at the sea to speak volumes about the relationship. The illustrations also hint that Bea is as lonely as Belle: a scene of the two in Bea’s room places two photographs of Bea’s own family on a table—where are they? Although a postscript and the dedication indicate that the story is at least partially autobiographical, there is something in this celebration of the relationship between black hired help and white employer’s child that might strike modern readers as archaic, if not downright abominable. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 11, 2004
ISBN: 0-374-32463-8
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2004
Share your opinion of this book
More by Sarah Stewart
BOOK REVIEW
by Sarah Stewart ; illustrated by David Small
BOOK REVIEW
by Sarah Stewart & illustrated by David Small
BOOK REVIEW
by Sarah Stewart & illustrated by David Small
by Loren Long & illustrated by Loren Long ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2009
Continuing to find inspiration in the work of Virginia Lee Burton, Munro Leaf and other illustrators of the past, Long (The Little Engine That Could, 2005) offers an aw-shucks friendship tale that features a small but hardworking tractor (“putt puff puttedy chuff”) with a Little Toot–style face and a big-eared young descendant of Ferdinand the bull who gets stuck in deep, gooey mud. After the big new yellow tractor, crowds of overalls-clad locals and a red fire engine all fail to pull her out, the little tractor (who had been left behind the barn to rust after the arrival of the new tractor) comes putt-puff-puttedy-chuff-ing down the hill to entice his terrified bovine buddy successfully back to dry ground. Short on internal logic but long on creamy scenes of calf and tractor either gamboling energetically with a gaggle of McCloskey-like geese through neutral-toned fields or resting peacefully in the shade of a gnarled tree (apple, not cork), the episode will certainly draw nostalgic adults. Considering the author’s track record and influences, it may find a welcome from younger audiences too. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-399-25248-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2009
Share your opinion of this book
More In The Series
by Loren Long ; illustrated by Loren Long
by Loren Long ; illustrated by Loren Long
by Loren Long ; illustrated by Loren Long
More by Loren Long
BOOK REVIEW
by Loren Long ; illustrated by Loren Long
BOOK REVIEW
by Jason June ; illustrated by Loren Long
BOOK REVIEW
by Amanda Gorman ; illustrated by Loren Long
More About This Book
SEEN & HEARD
by JaNay Brown-Wood ; illustrated by Hazel Mitchell ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 14, 2014
While the blend of folklore, fantasy and realism is certainly far-fetched, Imani, with her winning personality, is a child...
Imani endures the insults heaped upon her by the other village children, but she never gives up her dreams.
The Masai girl is tiny compared to the other children, but she is full of imagination and perseverance. Luckily, she has a mother who believes in her and tells her stories that will fuel that imagination. Mama tells her about the moon goddess, Olapa, who wins over the sun god. She tells Imani about Anansi, the trickster spider who vanquishes a larger snake. (Troublingly, the fact that Anansi is a West African figure, not of the Masai, goes unaddressed in both text and author’s note.) Inspired, the tiny girl tries to find new ways to achieve her dream: to touch the moon. One day, after crashing to the ground yet again when her leafy wings fail, she is ready to forget her hopes. That night, she witnesses the adumu, the special warriors’ jumping dance. Imani wakes the next morning, determined to jump to the moon. After jumping all day, she reaches the moon, meets Olapa and receives a special present from the goddess, a small moon rock. Now she becomes the storyteller when she relates her adventure to Mama. The watercolor-and-graphite illustrations have been enhanced digitally, and the night scenes of storytelling and fantasy with their glowing stars and moons have a more powerful impact than the daytime scenes, with their blander colors.
While the blend of folklore, fantasy and realism is certainly far-fetched, Imani, with her winning personality, is a child to be admired. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-934133-57-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Mackinac Island Press
Review Posted Online: July 28, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2014
Share your opinion of this book
More by Tamisha Anthony
BOOK REVIEW
by JaNay Brown-Wood ; illustrated by Tamisha Anthony
BOOK REVIEW
by JaNay Brown-Wood ; illustrated by Olivia Amoah
BOOK REVIEW
by JaNay Brown-Wood ; illustrated by John Joven
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
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
Trouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Trouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.