Marvelous fun: Who wouldn’t want a friend like this?
Mabel’s comrade in imaginative exploits is no stranger to daring deeds.
As Mabel strongly suspected when she first met the titular character in Madame Badobedah (2020), the “longest, oldest, best-ever guest” of the Mermaid Hotel really does have “jewel thief” on her resume of wild occupations. Mabel, a self-proclaimed adventurer, adores the glamorous and slightly rascally old lady. When Madame Badobedah invites her to open one of the many drawers in her “dressing table of dreams,” two stories emerge. Taking an enormous tooth out of a drawer, Madame Badobedah explains that she pulled it from the jaw of a triceratops in pain. Meanwhile, the green glow from another drawer seems quite suspicious, and Madame B says they’ll have to return the mysterious object tonight. The pair venture through Madame Badobedah’s Mermaid Closet that evening and arrive at the Natural History Museum, where the bones of an iguanodon, a T. rex, and a triceratops—all Madame Badobedah’s old friends—come to life for Mabel. Finally, Madame B returns the mystery item—an emerald that she spontaneously pocketed years ago while giving a lecture. Madame Badobedah is a wonderfully appealing character who proves that you’re never too old for an adventure, while precocious, earnest Mabel has a pitch-perfect narratorial voice. O’Hara’s bright watercolors are whimsical and just a little retro. Characters present white.
Marvelous fun: Who wouldn’t want a friend like this? (Picture book. 4-9)Pub Date: April 2, 2024
ISBN: 9781536233568
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Walker US/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2024
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BOOK REVIEW
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
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
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BOOK REVIEW
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