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MOTH IN A FANCY CARDIGAN

Name: MOTH IN A FANCY CARDIGAN
Author: Charlotte Lance
ISBN: 9781922610577

by Charlotte Lance ; illustrated by David Booth ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 6, 2023

Message-heavy but ultimately affirming and empathy-promoting.

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A moth and a butterfly struggle with outsides that don’t match their insides.

Gary, a gray moth, is unhappy with his somber exterior (especially his gray cardigan), which leaves him virtually invisible and envious of the brightly colored butterflies. When Florence, a butterfly, ditches her colorful cardigan outside the school, he grabs it. At home that night he tries it on and feels like himself in it. Meanwhile, reserved, awkward Florence, who feels uncomfortable trying to live up to her serene mother’s example, comes across Gary’s cardigan and finds it a perfect fit. But losing her cardigan causes Florence trouble—its pocket contained a gift for her beloved grandmother, who accepts her for the black-and-white-and-gray–loving butterfly she is. (When Gary eventually finds the drawing, he thinks it incomplete and colors it to “finish” it, ruining what Florence loved most about it.) When Florence confesses to Grandma that she lost her cardigan, her grandmother reveals a family secret. Before the protagonists can reconcile their inner-to-outer selves, they must navigate their interpersonal conflict (over picture and cardigan) and preconceptions. Gary and Florence’s solution will be obvious to readers based on how happy these brief tastes of change make them. Still, the message of self-acceptance rings through. Short chapters that switch between Gary’s and Florence’s perspectives showcase frequent illustrations, grayscale with yellow pops. Heavily anthropomorphized characters look like gray-skinned humans with wings and antennae.

Message-heavy but ultimately affirming and empathy-promoting. (Fiction. 7-11)

Pub Date: June 6, 2023

ISBN: 9781922610577

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Berbay Publishing

Review Posted Online: March 28, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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LITTLE DAYMOND LEARNS TO EARN

by Daymond John ; illustrated by Nicole Miles ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 21, 2023

It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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HORRIBLE HARRY SAYS GOODBYE

From the Horrible Harry series , Vol. 37

by Suzy Kline ; illustrated by Amy Wummer ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 27, 2018

A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode.

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A long-running series reaches its closing chapters.

Having, as Kline notes in her warm valedictory acknowledgements, taken 30 years to get through second and third grade, Harry Spooger is overdue to move on—but not just into fourth grade, it turns out, as his family is moving to another town as soon as the school year ends. The news leaves his best friend, narrator “Dougo,” devastated…particularly as Harry doesn’t seem all that fussed about it. With series fans in mind, the author takes Harry through a sort of last-day-of-school farewell tour. From his desk he pulls a burned hot dog and other items that featured in past episodes, says goodbye to Song Lee and other classmates, and even (for the first time ever) leads Doug and readers into his house and memento-strewn room for further reminiscing. Of course, Harry isn’t as blasé about the move as he pretends, and eyes aren’t exactly dry when he departs. But hardly is he out of sight before Doug is meeting Mohammad, a new neighbor from Syria who (along with further diversifying a cast that began as mostly white but has become increasingly multiethnic over the years) will also be starting fourth grade at summer’s end, and planning a written account of his “horrible” buddy’s exploits. Finished illustrations not seen.

A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode. (Fiction. 7-9)