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I WANT TO BE

Name: I WANT TO BE
Author: Thylias Moss
ISBN: 0-8037-1286-3

by Thylias Moss & illustrated by Jerry Pinkney ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1993

Exhilarating, verbally and visually: the very essence of youthful energy and summertime freedom.

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The untrammeled exuberance of a free-spirited youngster, eager to explore everything, sings through a poetic story.

When neighbors ask a young African-American what she'd like to be and she lacks a ready answer, she lets her imagination soar while pondering attributes she might claim ("big," "strong," "old," "fast," "wise," "beautiful," "green," "weightless") and concluding: "I want to be life doing, doing everything." The unnamed narrator, in sneakers, tie-dyed shirt and cutoff overalls, is Pinkney's latest handsome young heroine (cf. Mirandy and Brother Wind, 1988; The Talking Eggs, 1989). His watercolors burgeon with flowers, butterflies, rainbows, and busy, happy people (Brother Wind makes a cameo appearance). In Moss's headlong style, image piles on image; but Pinkney's artistic ingenuity matches even her most over-the-top similes: "a train moving in the sun like a metal peacock's glowing feather on tracks that are like stilts a thousand miles long laid down like a ladder up a flat mountain (wow!)...."

Exhilarating, verbally and visually: the very essence of youthful energy and summertime freedom. (Picture book. 5-10)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1993

ISBN: 0-8037-1286-3

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Dial Books

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1993

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

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THE ULTIMATE BOOK OF CITIES

by Anne-Sophie Baumann ; illustrated by Didier Balicevic ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 4, 2017

There’s lots to see and do in this big city.

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A set of panoramic views of the urban environment: inside and out, above and belowground, at street level and high overhead.

Thanks to many flaps, pull tabs, spinners, and sliders, viewers can take peeks into stores and apartments, see foliage change through the seasons in a park, operate elevators, make buildings rise and come down, visit museums and municipal offices, take in a film, join a children’s parade, marvel as Christmas decorations go up—even look in on a wedding and a funeral. Balicevic populates each elevated cartoon view with dozens of tiny but individualized residents diverse in age, skin tone, hair color and style, dress, and occupation. He also adds such contemporary touches as an electrical charging station for cars, surveillance cameras, smartphones, and fiber optic cables. Moreover, many flaps conceal diagrammatic views of infrastructure elements like water treatment facilities and sources of electrical power or how products ranging from plate glass and paper to bread, cheese, and T-shirts are manufactured (realistically, none of the workers in the last are white). Baumann’s commentary is largely dispensable, but she does worthily observe on the big final pop-up spread that cities are always changing—often, nowadays, becoming more environmentally friendly.

There’s lots to see and do in this big city. (Informational novelty. 6-9)

Pub Date: April 4, 2017

ISBN: 979-1-02760-079-3

Page Count: 22

Publisher: Twirl/Chronicle

Review Posted Online: May 30, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2017

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

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THE ULTIMATE BOOK OF ANIMALS
by Anne-Sophie Baumann ; illustrated by Éléanore Della Malva ; translated by Wendeline A. Hardenberg

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VEHICLES
by Anne-Sophie Baumann ; illustrated by Hélène Convert ; translated by Wendeline A. Hardenberg

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THE ULTIMATE BOOK OF PLANET EARTH
by Anne-Sophie Baumann & Pierrick Graviou ; illustrated by Didier Balicevic

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INDIAN SHOES

by Cynthia Leitich Smith & illustrated by Jim Madsen ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2002

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A very pleasing first-chapter book from its funny and tender opening salvo to its heartwarming closer. Ray and his Grampa Halfmoon live in Chicago, but Grampa comes from Oklahoma. Six vignettes make up the short chapters. Among them: Ray finds a way to buy Grampa the pair of moccasins that remind him of home and Smith gets in a gentle jab at the commercialization of Native American artifacts. At a Christmas stuck far away from the Oklahoma relatives the pair finds comfort and joy even when the electricity goes out, and in a funny sequence of disasters, a haircut gone seriously awry enables a purple-and-orange dye job to be just the ticket for little-league spirit. The language is spare, clean, and rhythmic, with a little sentimentality to soften the edges. Ray and Grampa have a warm and loving intergenerational bond that’s an added treat. With a nod toward contemporary Native Americans, Grampa tells Cherokee and Seminole family stories, and when Ray gets to be in a wedding party, the groom is Polish-Menominee and his bride is Choctaw. An excellent choice for younger readers from the author of the bittersweet Rain Is Not My Indian Name (2001). (Fiction. 7-10)