edited by Wade Hudson & Cheryl Willis Hudson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 11, 2020
The ingredients are all here. May this magnificent collection inspire us to move from dialogue to deep action.
This star-studded collection of #ownvoices authors calls readers in for necessary reminders in service of everyday actions that we must pursue to cultivate real change.
This collection is right on time. As many people reach for undifferentiated anti-racist reading lists to catch up to the Black-led front lines of today’s social movements, the Hudsons take an approach for young readers that emphasizes intergenerational relationships, familial intimacy, and intersectional justice. These are “real conversations,” both in that many of them draw from true personal experiences and also in the sense that they revel in depth and substance. The editors put it this way: “With advice and love, harsh realities and encouraging words, the talks offered in this anthology…embrace honest ways of thinking that help expand ourselves and others in a complex and diverse society.” Each contribution has its own unique viewpoint paired with arresting grayscale illustrations; together they take on a diversity of forms including prose, poems, and comics. Race plays a central role, yet the conversations expand beyond a Black-White binary to be inclusive of Asian, Latinx, and Native experiences as well. An all-star list of authors and illustrators appears throughout the pages—an embarrassment of literary riches. Backmatter includes explanatory notes from some of the authors, and biographical notes on all the contributors. It’s a perfect sequel to the Hudsons’ critically acclaimed collection We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices (2018).
The ingredients are all here. May this magnificent collection inspire us to move from dialogue to deep action. (backmatter) (Anthology. 10-adult)Pub Date: Aug. 11, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-12161-0
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
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by Andrew Knapp ; illustrated by Andrew Knapp ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 6, 2024
A well-meaning but lackluster tribute.
Readers bid farewell to a beloved canine character.
Momo is—or was—an adorable and very photogenic border collie owned by author Knapp. The many readers who loved him in the previous half-dozen books are in for a shock with this one. “Momo had died” is the stark reality—and there are no photographs of him here. Instead, Momo has been replaced by a flat cartoonish pastiche with strange, staring round white eyes, inserted into some of Knapp’s photography (which remains appealing, insofar as it can be discerned under the mixed media). Previous books contained few or no words. Unfortunately, virtuosity behind a lens does not guarantee mastery of verse. The art here is accompanied by words that sometimes rhyme but never find a workable or predictable rhythm (“We’d fetch and we’d catch, / we’d run and we’d jump. Every day we found new / games to play”). It’s a pity, because the subject—a pet’s death—is an important one to address with children. Of course, Momo isn’t gone; he can still be found “everywhere” in memories. But alas, he can be found here only in the crude depictions of the darling dog so well known from the earlier books.
A well-meaning but lackluster tribute. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781683693864
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Quirk Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
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by Andrew Knapp ; photographed by Andrew Knapp
by Nicola Davies ; illustrated by Jane Ray ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 7, 2019
A sweet and endearing feathered migration.
A relationship between a Latina grandmother and her mixed-race granddaughter serves as the frame to depict the ruby-throated hummingbird migration pattern.
In Granny’s lap, a girl is encouraged to “keep still” as the intergenerational pair awaits the ruby-throated hummingbirds with bowls of water in their hands. But like the granddaughter, the tz’unun—“the word for hummingbird in several [Latin American] languages”—must soon fly north. Over the next several double-page spreads, readers follow the ruby-throated hummingbird’s migration pattern from Central America and Mexico through the United States all the way to Canada. Davies metaphorically reunites the granddaughter and grandmother when “a visitor from Granny’s garden” crosses paths with the girl in New York City. Ray provides delicately hashed lines in the illustrations that bring the hummingbirds’ erratic flight pattern to life as they travel north. The watercolor palette is injected with vibrancy by the addition of gold ink, mirroring the hummingbirds’ flashing feathers in the slants of light. The story is supplemented by notes on different pages with facts about the birds such as their nest size, diet, and flight schedule. In addition, a note about ruby-throated hummingbirds supplies readers with detailed information on how ornithologists study and keep track of these birds.
A sweet and endearing feathered migration. (bibliography, index) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: May 7, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0538-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
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by Nicola Davies ; illustrated by Emily Sutton
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