A (mostly) sweet story of friendship, letting go, and new beginnings.
When Button has to move away from her best friend, Bundle, she finds a way to stay connected from afar, if only in her mind.
Button, a white girl with long, reddish-blonde hair, and Bundle, a black girl with afro puffs, spend their days together, playing with their dolls, “weaving daisy chains, blowing wishes, and singing their song.” Both girls are distressed when Button moves away. “Button didn’t think they’d ever be happy again.” Three spreads are devoted to this sad time, and Button’s sadness is transferred onto her doll: “Petal wanted to stay in her bed.…It was a lonely, blue time for Button and Petal.” But one day, a yellow balloon “arrived with a song on the breeze,” and Button uses it to send Petal off to find Bundle and Rose (Bundle’s doll and Petal’s best friend). She happily imagines Bundle receiving Petal and singing their song. Then, one day, Button is looking for fairies when she stumbles upon another girl looking for fairies “and friends.” Leah, a girl with light brown skin and long, brown hair, gives Button a unicorn, and once again Button has a best friend, “singing a new song” without forgetting her old song and her old friend. The illustrations, soft and whimsical drawings done in watercolor and pastel with pencil, create a dreamlike quality for each stage of the story. Button’s friends feel almost imaginary, which is somewhat troubling as they are depicted as girls of color, but her emotions feel very real.
A (mostly) sweet story of friendship, letting go, and new beginnings. (Picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Feb. 19, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5247-6668-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
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
A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode.
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)Pub Date: Nov. 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-451-47963-1
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2018
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