A heartwarming tale that combines Black boy joy with community connection.
An African American tween with a gift for rhyme turns a school project into something bigger.
Simon Barnes is entering fifth grade at Booker T. Washington Elementary School. He has supportive family and friends but still worries about being the shortest in his class and all the teasing that brings. One thing he holds onto is his ability to create raps, a talent that earned him the nickname Rhymin’ Simon and sparked his dream of becoming a famous rapper. His best friend, Maria Rivera, shares information about their new teacher that makes him a bit anxious, but Mr. James turns out to be a high-energy presence with infectious enthusiasm. He even raps his welcome! However, he then announces their first assignment: an oral report on a topic of their choosing. Simon’s reluctance to speak in public overshadows everything and consumes his thoughts. When he decides to make the subject of his presentation Sunny, an older homeless man who is a fixture in the neighborhood, the compassion his parents cultivated in him emerges. Reed draws on his experience as a teacher who went viral with his classroom raps to tell an upbeat story about a tween grounded in his community of Black and Latinx families. Simon is a likable protagonist, and his relationships ring true. The lively narrative is enhanced by Simon’s rhymes; cheerful illustrations contribute to the buoyant tone.
A heartwarming tale that combines Black boy joy with community connection. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: March 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-316-53897-8
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...
A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider and a little girl.
Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"—then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring.
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often informative as amusing, and the whole tenor of appealing wit and pathos will make fine entertainment for reading aloud, too.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1952
ISBN: 978-0-06-026385-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
A real gem.
A 10-year old girl learns to adjust to a strange town, makes some fascinating friends, and fills the empty space in her heart thanks to a big old stray dog in this lyrical, moving, and enchanting book by a fresh new voice.
India Opal’s mama left when she was only three, and her father, “the preacher,” is absorbed in his own loss and in the work of his new ministry at the Open-Arms Baptist Church of Naomi [Florida]. Enter Winn-Dixie, a dog who “looked like a big piece of old brown carpet that had been left out in the rain.” But, this dog had a grin “so big that it made him sneeze.” And, as Opal says, “It’s hard not to immediately fall in love with a dog who has a good sense of humor.” Because of Winn-Dixie, Opal meets Miss Franny Block, an elderly lady whose papa built her a library of her own when she was just a little girl and she’s been the librarian ever since. Then, there’s nearly blind Gloria Dump, who hangs the empty bottle wreckage of her past from the mistake tree in her back yard. And, Otis, oh yes, Otis, whose music charms the gerbils, rabbits, snakes and lizards he’s let out of their cages in the pet store. Brush strokes of magical realism elevate this beyond a simple story of friendship to a well-crafted tale of community and fellowship, of sweetness, sorrow and hope. And, it’s funny, too.
A real gem. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: March 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7636-0776-2
Page Count: 182
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2000
SEEN & HEARD
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