A fine incentive to motivate couch potatoes young and old to move
A lively intergenerational picture book that will send readers out to the sidewalk for a hoopin’ good time.
When Kameeka gets the hula-hoopin’ itch, her fingers snap, her feet tap, and her hips swing. She feels “the itch” coming on one afternoon, and she gets ready to step outside to compete against her hoopin’ archrival, Jamara. Mama, however, has other plans, as she prepares the house for Miz Adeline’s party, a grandmotherly neighbor who took care of both Kameeka and Mama as children. When Mama sends Kameeka on an emergency run to the grocery store for ingredients to replace the fallen double-fudge chocolate cake, Kameeka takes a detour that lasts much longer than it should. But hoop she must to save her reputation in the neighborhood. Godin’s lively language paired with Brantley-Newton’s colorful collage illustrations of children from many different backgrounds gives readers a realistic view of this diverse and close-knit urban community. The pictures that hang on the walls of Kameeka’s house—of Ruby Bridges and a brown-skinned, cap-and-gown–wearing graduate—hint at the importance of both education and African-American history in this family. The elderly Miz Adeline validates Kameeka’s love of the hula hoop when she demonstrate through her own hoopin’ moves that some forms of play remain timeless.
A fine incentive to motivate couch potatoes young and old to move . (Picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: May 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-60060-846-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Lee & Low Books
Review Posted Online: April 8, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Readers will enjoy this sequel from a plot perspective and will learn how to play-act a trial, though they may not engage...
This sequel to The Lemonade War (2007), picking up just a few days later, focuses on how the fourth graders take justice into their own hands after learning that the main suspect in the case of the missing lemonade-stand money now owns the latest in game-box technology.
Siblings Evan and Jessie (who skipped third grade because of her precocity) are sure Scott Spencer stole the $208 from Evan’s shorts and want revenge, especially as Scott’s new toy makes him the most popular kid in class, despite his personal shortcomings. Jessie’s solution is to orchestrate a full-blown trial by jury after school, while Evan prefers to challenge Scott in basketball. Neither channel proves satisfactory for the two protagonists (whose rational and emotional reactions are followed throughout the third-person narrative), though, ultimately, the matter is resolved. Set during the week of Yom Kippur, the story raises beginning questions of fairness, integrity, sin and atonement. Like John Grisham's Theodore Boone, Kid Lawyer (2010), much of the book is taken up with introducing courtroom proceedings for a fourth-grade level of understanding. Chapter headings provide definitions (“due diligence,” “circumstantial evidence,” etc.) and explanation cards/documents drawn by Jessie are interspersed.
Readers will enjoy this sequel from a plot perspective and will learn how to play-act a trial, though they may not engage with the characters enough to care about how the justice actually pans out. (Fiction. 8-10)Pub Date: May 2, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-27967-1
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Cute as a boo-ton—if a tad stereotypical.
Ghost siblings ghoul it up in a new graphic-novel series.
A “THUMP” from the attic sends siblings Fitz and Cleo up to investigate. The spooky vibes delight Cleo, so she improvises “The Spooky Attic Song.” Fitz tries to shush his sister so they can maintain “the element of surprise” as they approach the sound’s source. The mystery is solved: It’s a cat! Cleo promptly scoops the (seemingly mortal) cat up and names him Mister Boo. Fitz has reservations but relents when Mister Boo sits on his head. Ten subsequent chapters, varying between four and seven pages in length, chronicle the trio’s further shenanigans. Husband-and-wife team Stutzman and Fox create an entertaining early graphic novel in the vein of Ben Clanton’s Narwhal and Jelly series. Though there are occasional speech bubbles, dialogue is most often connected to the speaker by a solid black line. Sentences are short, and there are at most two speakers per panel. Additionally, with no more than six panels per page and simple backgrounds, the story provides adequate support to emerging readers. Fox’s expressive illustrations and clever use of panel layouts effectively build off the humor in Stutzman’s text. Cleo is depicted with a purple bow; Fitz with a baseball cap and glasses. Unfortunately, their personalities as well as their appearances play into gender stereotypes.
Cute as a boo-ton—if a tad stereotypical. (Graphic fantasy. 6-10)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-250-23944-0
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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