With a little bit of sparkle and a whole lot of sass, Summer will be right at home with any young girl eager to enter the...
When 7-year-old Summer Jackson decides she wants to be a grown-up right now, she means it.
Sporting high heels, blazer and a briefcase, she sets off for school, intent on being the consultant she imagines herself to be. When Mama and Daddy slyly agree with their headstrong daughter, Summer finds out that being a grown-up is a little different than she imagined. It’s not all phone calls, meetings and bossing everyone around. There are dishes to do, Summer! Warm pinks and violets, outlined in black ink, reflect every emotion of this little wannabe adult. Her cocked eyebrows and curly ponytail let readers know that she means business. Her parents stick to the background, but clearly love their little girl and are bemused by her antics. When Summer’s parents climb into her bed when they are scared or play on her swings, readers will laugh along with Summer at her predicament. African-American girls are rarely depicted in picture books, so it’s nice to see such a beautiful, confident little girl with her caring parents.
With a little bit of sparkle and a whole lot of sass, Summer will be right at home with any young girl eager to enter the work world. (Picture Book. 5-9)Pub Date: May 17, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-18757-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2011
Parker’s not trying to be Dostoevsky here but rather wishes to create light and good-natured entertainment—and he succeeds.
Parker zings—but oh so gently—small-town politics and the pretentious politicians who regulate our lives at the micro-level.
The Committee on Town Happiness is happy indeed to make our happy lives even happier, and to this end its members vote on a constant stream of issues reflecting their concerns. This slim novel contains almost 100 chapters, and in about two-thirds of them a vote is taken on something or other. For example, the committee passes by acclamation a testimonial that “trees demonstrate steadiness of purpose and evenness of demeanor.” When things start to heat up on a controversial topic, the committee votes 5-3 “to destroy the minutes upon adjourning” (though one wag of a committeeman wonders whether "the minutes say destroy the minutes"). The primary goal of the committee is right in its name, but the members run into an obvious dilemma: How does one quantify and measure happiness? They do their best by passing legislation meant to materially increase the well-being of the community as a whole. Such ordinances include the regulation of writing on biking jerseys: “No vulgarities may be printed in sans serif fonts on jerseys; no vulgarities may be written backwards, to be read in rear view mirrors.” When citizens start disappearing, there's concern (and the launching of hot air balloons to find them), and occasionally some slight chicanery interrupts the committee's good intentions, but the plot remains minimal.
Parker’s not trying to be Dostoevsky here but rather wishes to create light and good-natured entertainment—and he succeeds.Pub Date: June 10, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-938103-80-3
Page Count: 184
Publisher: Dzanc
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2014
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