A deeply moving and inspiring celebration of long hair and its significance in Indigenous cultures.
A Native girl reflects on hair, both her own and her family’s.
The young narrator’s Nokomis (Ojibwe for grandmother) and mother were not permitted to have long hair—her mother’s was deemed “too wild,” while Nokomis’ was shorn at a residential school. The phrase “Our ancestors say” repeats throughout as we learn that “stories and memories are woven” into the young narrator’s hair. Long Indigenous hair is a form of self-expression, honors ancestral knowledge, and is healing medicine, according to the ancestors. Littlebird’s (enrolled Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde) bold art matches the power of We Are Water Protectors author Lindstrom’s (Anishinabe/Métis, enrolled Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe) words. Crisp, striking illustrations reminiscent of woodcuts celebrate life and depict characters’ connections to Mother Earth as leaves swirl and splashes of vibrant colors dance across pages like confetti. Parents, siblings, grandparents, cousins, and aunties are included, making for a loving portrayal of a tightknit extended Native family. The stages of the protagonist’s hair growth serve as a timeline of events: When Nimishoomis (grandfather) taught the child to fish, her hair reached her ears; when her brother was born, it was shoulder-length. When Nimishoomis dies, the young girl cuts her hair to send powerful energy into the spirit world with him. As the book ends, the child decides to regrow her hair, and so does her mother. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A deeply moving and inspiring celebration of long hair and its significance in Indigenous cultures. (information on the importance of hair to Native/Indigenous peoples, Ojibwe glossary, author’s note) (Picture book. 5-11)Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 9781419759437
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A kind child in a book for middle-grade readers? There’s no downside to that.
Beatrice Zinker is a kinder, gentler Judy Moody.
Beatrice doesn’t want to be fit in a box. Her first word was “WOW,” not “Mom.” She does her best thinking upside down and prefers to dress like a ninja. Like Judy Moody, she has patient parents and a somewhat annoying younger brother. (She also has a perfectly ordinary older sister.) Beatrice spends all summer planning a top-secret spy operation complete with secret codes and a secret language (pig Latin). But on the first day of third grade, her best friend, Lenny (short for Eleanor), shows up in a dress, with a new friend who wants to play veterinarian at recess. Beatrice, essentially a kind if somewhat quirky kid, struggles to see the upside of the situation and ends up with two friends instead of one. Line drawings on almost every spread add to the humor and make the book accessible to readers who might otherwise balk at its 160 pages. Thankfully, the rhymes in the text do not continue past the first chapter. Children will enjoy the frequent puns and Beatrice’s preference for climbing trees and hanging upside down. The story drifts dangerously close to pedantry when Beatrice asks for advice from a grandmotherly neighbor but is saved by likable characters and upside-down cake. Beatrice seems to be white; Lenny’s surname, Santos, suggests that she may be Latina; their school is a diverse one.
A kind child in a book for middle-grade readers? There’s no downside to that. (Fiction. 6-10)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4847-6738-2
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
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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