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GRANDMA MABLE, ARE YOU ABLE?

Name: GRANDMA MABLE, ARE YOU ABLE?
Author: Willie Etta Wright
ISBN: 978-0-9703551-5-7

by Willie Etta Wright ; illustrated by Blueberry Illustrations ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 17, 2018

While it encourages family exercise, this tale presents a puzzling transformation.

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A student learns a surprising lesson about his African American grandmother’s capabilities in this debut children’s book.

Jacob, the young African American narrator of this tale, isn’t as excited as his classmates about an upcoming Family Exercise Day. His only relative is his Grandma Mable, who has white hair, sore knees, and sometimes walks with the help of a cane. Jacob is doubtful she can participate, but his grandmother says she’ll do her best. On the big day, Jacob, Grandma, and their dog, Friendly, head to the park and take on a series of challenges. For each one, Jacob asks “Grandma Mable, are you able?” The energetic activities include running, skateboarding, and kicking a ball. In every case, Grandma shows herself to be a real contender; she even performs a cartwheel. In fact, she outdoes injury- and accident-prone Jacob, who is more used to playing video games than exercising. Grandma explains that she’s used to hard work and has stayed fit so she can be strong for Jacob. She praises his efforts, and the two plan to exercise weekly. In her story, Wright offers an amusing, turn-the-tables scenario and a warm family relationship that parentless kids who live with relatives will likely appreciate. That said, Grandma’s sudden metamorphosis from a cane-using elderly woman into a spry, cartwheeling exercise enthusiast doesn’t make much sense. The book’s prose poem style is also rather odd since the rhyme has no regular scheme or meter and doesn’t break into lines or stanzas, as in “The day wasn’t done. We had to finish even in the hot sun.” The images by Blueberry Illustrations have a flat, generic quality with little detail, although they do depict a racially diverse set of characters.

While it encourages family exercise, this tale presents a puzzling transformation.

Pub Date: Dec. 17, 2018

ISBN: 978-0-9703551-5-7

Page Count: 64

Publisher: Self

Review Posted Online: April 13, 2020

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

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THE PORCUPINE YEAR

From the Birchbark House series , Vol. 3

by Louise Erdrich ; illustrated by Louise Erdrich ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2008

The journey is even gently funny—Omakayas’s brother spends much of the year with a porcupine on his head. Charming and...

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This third entry in the Birchbark House series takes Omakayas and her family west from their home on the Island of the Golden-Breasted Woodpecker, away from land the U.S. government has claimed.

Difficulties abound; the unknown landscape is fraught with danger, and they are nearing hostile Bwaanag territory. Omakayas’s family is not only close, but growing: The travelers adopt two young chimookoman (white) orphans along the way. When treachery leaves them starving and alone in a northern Minnesota winter, it will take all of their abilities and love to survive. The heartwarming account of Omakayas’s year of travel explores her changing family relationships and culminates in her first moon, the onset of puberty. It would be understandable if this darkest-yet entry in Erdrich’s response to the Little House books were touched by bitterness, yet this gladdening story details Omakayas’s coming-of-age with appealing optimism.

The journey is even gently funny—Omakayas’s brother spends much of the year with a porcupine on his head. Charming and enlightening. (Historical fiction. 9-11)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2008

ISBN: 978-0-06-029787-9

Page Count: 208

Publisher: HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2008

Categories:

CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S HISTORICAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
MAKOONS
by Louise Erdrich ; illustrated by Louise Erdrich

- BOOK REVIEW
CHICKADEE
by Louise Erdrich

- BOOK REVIEW
THE GAME OF SILENCE
by Louise Erdrich ; illustrated by Louise Erdrich

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THE BELL BANDIT

From the Lemonade War series , Vol. 3

by Jacqueline Davies ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2012

A fine emotional stretch within reach of the intended audience.

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When siblings Jessie and Evan (The Lemonade War, 2007, and The Lemonade Crime, 2011) accompany their mother on the time-honored midwinter holiday visit to their grandmother’s home in the mountains, the changes are alarming.

Fire damage to the house and Grandma’s inability to recognize Evan are as disquieting as the disappearance of the iron bell, hung long ago by their grandmother on Lowell Hill and traditionally rung at the New Year. Davies keeps a tight focus on the children: Points of view switch between Evan, with his empathetic and emotional approach to understanding his world, and Jessie, for whom routine is essential and change a puzzle to be worked out. When Grandma ventures out into the snow just before twilight, it is Evan who realizes the danger and manages to find a way to rescue her. Jessie, determined to solve the mystery of the missing bell, enlists the help of Grandma's young neighbor Maxwell, with his unusual habitual gestures and his surprising ability to solve jigsaw puzzles. She is unprepared, however, for the terror of seeing the neighbor boys preparing a mechanical torture device to tear a live frog to pieces. Each of the siblings brings a personal resilience and heroism to the resolution.

A fine emotional stretch within reach of the intended audience. (Fiction. 8-11)