by Skai Jackson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2019
Truly delivers what the subtitle promises.
What’s it like to grow up as a Disney child star?
Skai Jackson, whose first big role was the character Zuri on the Disney Channel show Jessie, shares her experience of being in front of the camera, starting as a baby and continuing through her emergence as a young star who becomes a superconfident teen. The daughter of a single parent, Skai began her modeling career in New York when she was still in diapers. Her ambitious mother, struggling to make ends meet, decided she wanted more for Skai, which led to first commercials, then bigger auditions that resulted in her roles on Jessie and Bunk’d. Skai takes readers through how she adapted to life as a child actress and an unexpected role model for black girls. She also reveals the more challenging aspects of celebrity, such as having to stand up for herself, or maturely “clapback,” when attacked on social media. She unapologetically states the reality of having to navigate life as a dark-skinned girl in a business that prefers lighter hues. Sporting her natural hair for years, Skai has had the fortitude to fully embrace and forge her identity as a talented actress, social-change advocate, and fashion icon (as well as a sneakerhead!). Periodic boxed lists of tips and copious photographs, both abetted by lively design, add to the book’s sense of fun.
Truly delivers what the subtitle promises. (Memoir. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-9848-5154-3
Page Count: 232
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
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by Jacqueline Woodson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 28, 2014
For every dreaming girl (and boy) with a pencil in hand (or keyboard) and a story to share.
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A multiaward–winning author recalls her childhood and the joy of becoming a writer.
Writing in free verse, Woodson starts with her 1963 birth in Ohio during the civil rights movement, when America is “a country caught / / between Black and White.” But while evoking names such as Malcolm, Martin, James, Rosa and Ruby, her story is also one of family: her father’s people in Ohio and her mother’s people in South Carolina. Moving south to live with her maternal grandmother, she is in a world of sweet peas and collards, getting her hair straightened and avoiding segregated stores with her grandmother. As the writer inside slowly grows, she listens to family stories and fills her days and evenings as a Jehovah’s Witness, activities that continue after a move to Brooklyn to reunite with her mother. The gift of a composition notebook, the experience of reading John Steptoe’s Stevieand Langston Hughes’ poetry, and seeing letters turn into words and words into thoughts all reinforce her conviction that “[W]ords are my brilliance.” Woodson cherishes her memories and shares them with a graceful lyricism; her lovingly wrought vignettes of country and city streets will linger long after the page is turned.
For every dreaming girl (and boy) with a pencil in hand (or keyboard) and a story to share. (Memoir/poetry. 8-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-399-25251-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2014
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SEEN & HEARD
by Jordan Sonnenblick ; illustrated by Jordan Sonnenblick ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 2, 2021
Though a bit loose around the edges, a charmer nevertheless.
Tales of a fourth grade ne’er-do-well.
It seems that young Jordan is stuck in a never-ending string of bad luck. Sure, no one’s perfect (except maybe goody-two-shoes William Feranek), but Jordan can’t seem to keep his attention focused on the task at hand. Try as he may, things always go a bit sideways, much to his educators’ chagrin. But Jordan promises himself that fourth grade will be different. As the year unfolds, it does prove to be different, but in a way Jordan couldn’t possibly have predicted. This humorous memoir perfectly captures the square-peg-in-a-round-hole feeling many kids feel and effectively heightens that feeling with comic situations and a splendid villain. Jordan’s teacher, Mrs. Fisher, makes an excellent foil, and the book’s 1970s setting allows for her cruelty to go beyond anything most contemporary readers could expect. Unfortunately, the story begins to run out of steam once Mrs. Fisher exits. Recollections spiral, losing their focus and leading to a more “then this happened” and less cause-and-effect structure. The anecdotes are all amusing and Jordan is an endearing protagonist, but the book comes dangerously close to wearing out its welcome with sheer repetitiveness. Thankfully, it ends on a high note, one pleasant and hopeful enough that readers will overlook some of the shabbier qualities. Jordan is White and Jewish while there is some diversity among his classmates; Mrs. Fisher is White.
Though a bit loose around the edges, a charmer nevertheless. (Memoir. 8-12)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-64723-5
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
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