This book is on fire.
For readers interested in discovering their inner dragons, Manning writes a book with stories, quizzes, and tasks to help find them.
Growing up is hard to do. There is so much to learn and explore in the world but also within ourselves, which is a truth that is easily overlooked. This book focuses kids on skills that they need to learn to become independent and helpful humans using the device of mythological beasts. Quizzes ask readers to imagine what colors they’d paint their grottoes or what they’d do if they happened upon a flock of lost baby phoenixes. Answers sort readers into categories based on the qualities of their roars or the colors of their magical glows. Interspersed stories relate the exploits of dragons who exemplify some of the personality qualities the quizzes uncover. In these, Manning goes against gender stereotypes with such characters as a brave female dragon and a kind, problem-solving male dragon who learns that he needs self-care and what that looks like for him. Activities such as creating a Venn diagram with another dragon they’ve had conflict with and creating a decision-making chart give readers solid strategies for navigating challenges. Underneath the conceit, Manning lets kids know that being who they are is important because there is no one else like them. Taken all together, this book should help fantasy-focused kids with their self-esteem, confidence, and fears; it’s all made the more enjoyable with Demmer’s friendly artwork.
This book is on fire. (Self-help. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5235-1141-9
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Workman
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2021
With young readers diagnosed with anxiety in ever increasing numbers, this book offers a necessary mirror to many.
Young Raina is 9 when she throws up for the first time that she remembers, due to a stomach bug. Even a year later, when she is in fifth grade, she fears getting sick.
Raina begins having regular stomachaches that keep her home from school. She worries about sharing food with her friends and eating certain kinds of foods, afraid of getting sick or food poisoning. Raina’s mother enrolls her in therapy. At first Raina isn’t sure about seeing a therapist, but over time she develops healthy coping mechanisms to deal with her stress and anxiety. Her therapist helps her learn to ground herself and relax, and in turn she teaches her classmates for a school project. Amping up the green, wavy lines to evoke Raina’s nausea, Telgemeier brilliantly produces extremely accurate visual representations of stress and anxiety. Thought bubbles surround Raina in some panels, crowding her with anxious “what if”s, while in others her negative self-talk appears to be literally crushing her. Even as she copes with anxiety disorder and what is eventually diagnosed as mild irritable bowel syndrome, she experiences the typical stresses of school life, going from cheer to panic in the blink of an eye. Raina is white, and her classmates are diverse; one best friend is Korean American.
With young readers diagnosed with anxiety in ever increasing numbers, this book offers a necessary mirror to many. (Graphic memoir. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-545-85251-7
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 11, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2019
For every dreaming girl (and boy) with a pencil in hand (or keyboard) and a story to share.
A multiaward–winning author recalls her childhood and the joy of becoming a writer.
Writing in free verse, Woodson starts with her 1963 birth in Ohio during the civil rights movement, when America is “a country caught / / between Black and White.” But while evoking names such as Malcolm, Martin, James, Rosa and Ruby, her story is also one of family: her father’s people in Ohio and her mother’s people in South Carolina. Moving south to live with her maternal grandmother, she is in a world of sweet peas and collards, getting her hair straightened and avoiding segregated stores with her grandmother. As the writer inside slowly grows, she listens to family stories and fills her days and evenings as a Jehovah’s Witness, activities that continue after a move to Brooklyn to reunite with her mother. The gift of a composition notebook, the experience of reading John Steptoe’s Stevieand Langston Hughes’ poetry, and seeing letters turn into words and words into thoughts all reinforce her conviction that “[W]ords are my brilliance.” Woodson cherishes her memories and shares them with a graceful lyricism; her lovingly wrought vignettes of country and city streets will linger long after the page is turned.
For every dreaming girl (and boy) with a pencil in hand (or keyboard) and a story to share. (Memoir/poetry. 8-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-399-25251-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2014
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