An amusing combination of grade school frustrations and slightly screwball responses.
Aldeen cruises through life like a monster truck: She crashes into everyone and has little concern for how her take-no-prisoners attitude affects people. So when Aldeen invites Morgan to accompany her and her grandmother to Princesses On Ice and his mother says he has to go, he’s less than thrilled.
Immediately, the third-grader starts plotting ways to avoid the skating show; these reach an added level of desperation when his friend Charlie invites him to a monster-truck show that turns out to be at the same time as the dreaded skating show. Morgan attempts a variety of poorly thought-out schemes, including attempting to foist Aldeen’s invitation off on a classmate and trying to convince her that he has a disease that makes him secretly scared of watching skating. Morgan’s dad keeps advising him to “Man up” and deal with his misfortune, but in the end, Aldeen’s grandmother elects to take them to the truck show instead of the skating event, and it turns out to be…boring! Quirky illustrations, (including a funny and inviting cover that makes this an easy sell), simple text, and recognizable, even mildly suspenseful situations, all combine to make this a chuckle-inducing read for those just advancing into chapter books. Morgan’s own ice-skating misadventures further enhance the mix.
An amusing combination of grade school frustrations and slightly screwball responses. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: March 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4595-0289-5
Page Count: 62
Publisher: Formac
Review Posted Online: Jan. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2014
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for...
A gentle voice and familiar pitfalls characterize this tale of a boy navigating the risky road to responsibility.
Gavin is new to his neighborhood and Carver Elementary. He likes his new friend, Richard, and has a typically contentious relationship with his older sister, Danielle. When Gavin’s desire to impress Richard sets off a disastrous chain of events, the boy struggles to evade responsibility for his actions. “After all, it isn’t his fault that Danielle’s snow globe got broken. Sure, he shouldn’t have been in her room—but then, she shouldn’t be keeping candy in her room to tempt him. Anybody would be tempted. Anybody!” opines Gavin once he learns the punishment for his crime. While Gavin has a charming Everyboy quality, and his aversion to Aunt Myrtle’s yapping little dog rings true, little about Gavin distinguishes him from other trouble-prone protagonists. He is, regrettably, forgettable. Coretta Scott King Honor winner English (Francie, 1999) is a teacher whose storytelling usually benefits from her day job. Unfortunately, the pizzazz of classroom chaos is largely absent from this series opener.
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for subsequent volumes. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: Dec. 17, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-547-97044-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
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
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