An admirable foray into novel-writing by a young writer.
A children’s novel by a 9-year-old author that follows the life an exceptionally perky girl who experiences mostly good things in life.
The book opens on a very young Bienna Molo when she’s just about to start preschool. She’s nervous about attending class and afraid that the other kids will make fun of her because she wears glasses. However, when she finally does reveal her eyewear, the class accepts her and is proud of her courage. This pattern continues throughout the book as readers follow Bienna through school, her career, and ultimately to her death at the age of 95. Although she encounters challenges—her older sister ran away when Bienna was 2, and at another point, a girl is mean to Bienna—these problems are generally solved very easily, often within the span of a page. The speed of these resolutions often makes the book read like a set of small, separate anecdotes without much continuity. For example, one day, Bienna has a birthday party, and the next chapter, out of the blue, her parents have a new baby, and both events are treated with the same significance. Bienna’s various experiences don’t seem to leave her in any way altered, and her voice doesn’t really change as she ages. This is understandable in a book written by a 9-year-old author, however, as it’s very unlikely that someone so young would be able to imbue a story of such scope with maturity and reflection. As it is, the book is a very impressive set of vignettes, considering its provenance.
An admirable foray into novel-writing by a young writer.Pub Date: March 27, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4602-2556-1
Page Count: 160
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The seemingly ageless Seeger brings back his renowned giant for another go in a tuneful tale that, like the art, is a bit sketchy, but chockful of worthy messages. Faced with yearly floods and droughts since they’ve cut down all their trees, the townsfolk decide to build a dam—but the project is stymied by a boulder that is too huge to move. Call on Abiyoyo, suggests the granddaughter of the man with the magic wand, then just “Zoop Zoop” him away again. But the rock that Abiyoyo obligingly flings aside smashes the wand. How to avoid Abiyoyo’s destruction now? Sing the monster to sleep, then make it a peaceful, tree-planting member of the community, of course. Seeger sums it up in a postscript: “every community must learn to manage its giants.” Hays, who illustrated the original (1986), creates colorful, if unfinished-looking, scenes featuring a notably multicultural human cast and a towering Cubist fantasy of a giant. The song, based on a Xhosa lullaby, still has that hard-to-resist sing-along potential, and the themes of waging peace, collective action, and the benefits of sound ecological practices are presented in ways that children will both appreciate and enjoy. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-83271-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2001
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