Blind and sighted kids alike will enjoy this cheery outing, which appropriately treats learning to use a white cane with the...
A glimpse at blindness, friendship and perseverance.
Zulay's classroom has 22 desks, the children’s name tags spelled in colorful braille dots. Three desks belong to her sighted friends, Chyng, Maya and Nancy, and they all help one another. Zulay's desk contains a "fold-ing hold-ing cold-ing" white cane, which she's reluctantly learning to use with the help of an aide, Ms. Turner. Zulay, an energetic African-American girl, is based on a real first-grader, and it shows. Like any kid, she doesn't want to stick out "like a car alarm in the night." She'd rather, she writes on her Brailler, "fly with [her] feet." She gets a chance to do just that at a field day, but can she master the cane in time? Brantley-Newton's bright colors and attention to facial expressions swiftly convey Zulay's enthusiasm, attitude and apprehension, as well as the skeptical and encouraging looks she can't see. Zulay's voice shines with rhythm and sensory detail, immersing readers naturally in her experience. Zulay's mention of learning to read braille, swim and climb trees despite difficulty will reassure blind kids whose hands are also "learn[ing] the way," and all kids will cheer as she and Ms. Turner fly around the track. A slightly raised braille alphabet on the back cover is a nice touch.
Blind and sighted kids alike will enjoy this cheery outing, which appropriately treats learning to use a white cane with the straightforwardness another might treat learning to ride a bike. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-374-38819-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2014
An absolute pleasure.
A small dog takes a huge leap.
True to her name, sled dog puppy Leap spends her days bounding happily through blankets of freshly fallen snow, bouncily biding her time until she, too, can suit up for a run with the team. Each dog brings a different, equally essential skill to the work of mushing, and as too-young Leap greets the pack when they return from their daily hike, she worries—what if she lacks a special talent of her own when it’s her time to race? But when the much-anticipated day arrives and Leap clips in for her rookie run, her feet tippity-tap excitedly, any trace of self-doubt eclipsed by her irrepressible enthusiasm. With their new addition in tow, the other dogs take off, buoyed as ever by a confidence borne from specialized expertise; they confront obstacles head-on, sailing easily along icy Northwoods terrain. That is until the team encounters a seemingly insurmountable hurdle, one that only their greenest member can clear. Dogsled racer Braverman’s sweet narrative builds a satisfying case for individuality as a community asset, celebrating both the value of teamwork and the discrete strengths that comprise it. Savvy readers will take pride in predicting Leap’s unique contribution, while canine lovers will delight in the revelation that the pups depicted are all real-life sled dogs working in northern Wisconsin. When’s illustrations are equal parts spellbinding and precious, deftly balancing compositional simplicity with masterful color work. The result is peerless.
An absolute pleasure. (author’s note) (Picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Oct. 21, 2025
ISBN: 9780063238053
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
It’s a slam dunk
Lucy discovers that the way to learn to play basketball is with friends on a neighborhood court.
Lucy loves playing in the park, and one day she and her friends join their friend Ava and her cousin in their new favorite sport: basketball. Pro player Jermaine, aka “Coach J,” teaches all the basics—footwork, quick passes, dribbling, and a variety of shots. But he also encourages the players to keep trying when they miss, stresses the value of teamwork, and focuses on fun as they learn and later play a practice game. At the end of the workout, Coach J invites the young players to watch him and his team play. Written in loose rhyming couplets, the text has many near rhymes and inconsistent meter. While the storyline is predictable, the book is a good introduction to basketball terms, and young basketball players and fans will appreciate reading about themselves. Vivid silhouetted figures against a white background portray male and female players of several races; Lucy herself is white while Ava and Coach J are black. One young player competes from a wheelchair. A half page of backmatter explains the history of basketball, the NBA and its players, and wheelchair basketball, and one entry also explains the three-on-three basketball that the children play. The book publishes in a simultaneous French edition translated by Rachel Martinez.
It’s a slam dunk . (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4598-1697-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: May 7, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2019
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