A handsome volume offering conversation starters, writing prompts, or thoughtful browsing pleasure.
The prolific German picture-book creator here fills nearly 200 pages with contemplative questions—and corresponding images.
While some spreads pair a single thought and illustration in a verso/recto pattern, other ideas are examined over several pages. The book opens and concludes with children on chairs, first musing about growing up, later dreaming; also near the end are youth on a tightrope (acknowledging fear) and swing (aiming high). Some questions deal with the everyday, tangible, or familiar realm: “What if the winter never ends?”; “Why are they so mean to me?” Others are more existential: “When somebody is very old and dies, / and a tree grows out of his grave, / is he then the tree?” Teckentrup maintains interest with ever changing page designs punctuated with white space. Her beautifully textured, layered compositions are created by scanning and digitally composing art that has been printed and painted by hand. While the palette changes with the mood, the art is tonally consistent, lending an overall unity. Skin tones range from realistic (brown) to the fantastic (blue or decorated, i.e., a starlit silhouette). The variety of questions ensures that a wide swath of reflective readers will find something to ponder, whether it is “Will he like me?” as subsequent pages show two (possibly) boys getting closer to kissing or the rhetorical “Do birds like to fly?”
A handsome volume offering conversation starters, writing prompts, or thoughtful browsing pleasure. (Picture book. 6-adult)Pub Date: April 9, 2019
ISBN: 978-3-7913-7376-8
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Prestel
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
An endearing protagonist runs the first, fast leg of Reynolds' promising relay.
Castle “Ghost” Cranshaw feels like he’s been running ever since his dad pulled that gun on him and his mom—and used it.
His dad’s been in jail three years now, but Ghost still feels the trauma, which is probably at the root of the many “altercations” he gets into at middle school. When he inserts himself into a practice for a local elite track team, the Defenders, he’s fast enough that the hard-as-nails coach decides to put him on the team. Ghost is surprised to find himself caring enough about being on the team that he curbs his behavior to avoid “altercations.” But Ma doesn’t have money to spare on things like fancy running shoes, so Ghost shoplifts a pair that make his feet feel impossibly light—and his conscience correspondingly heavy. Ghost’s narration is candid and colloquial, reminiscent of such original voices as Bud Caldwell and Joey Pigza; his level of self-understanding is both believably childlike and disarming in its perception. He is self-focused enough that secondary characters initially feel one-dimensional, Coach in particular, but as he gets to know them better, so do readers, in a way that unfolds naturally and pleasingly. His three fellow “newbies” on the Defenders await their turns to star in subsequent series outings. Characters are black by default; those few white people in Ghost’s world are described as such.
An endearing protagonist runs the first, fast leg of Reynolds' promising relay. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-5015-7
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Caitlyn Dlouhy/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
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It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.
How to raise money for a coveted poster: put your friends to work!
John, founder of the FUBU fashion line and a Shark Tank venture capitalist, offers a self-referential blueprint for financial success. Having only half of the $10 he needs for a Minka J poster, Daymond forks over $1 to buy a plain T-shirt, paints a picture of the pop star on it, sells it for $5, and uses all of his cash to buy nine more shirts. Then he recruits three friends to decorate them with his design and help sell them for an unspecified amount (from a conveniently free and empty street-fair booth) until they’re gone. The enterprising entrepreneur reimburses himself for the shirts and splits the remaining proceeds, which leaves him with enough for that poster as well as a “brand-new business book,” while his friends express other fiscal strategies: saving their share, spending it all on new art supplies, or donating part and buying a (math) book with the rest. (In a closing summation, the author also suggests investing in stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrency.) Though Miles cranks up the visual energy in her sparsely detailed illustrations by incorporating bright colors and lots of greenbacks, the actual advice feels a bit vague. Daymond is Black; most of the cast are people of color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-56727-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
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