ANGRYMAN

Name: ANGRYMAN
Author: Gro Dahle
ISBN: 978-0-7358-4340-0

by Gro Dahle ; illustrated by Svein Nyhus ; translated by Tara Chace ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 5, 2019

Not for the timid, this may be most appreciated as bibliotherapy, its powerful saga signaling to hurting readers that they...

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As with many Norwegian imports, this one—an exploration of domestic violence—packs an emotional wallop.

At first, Daddy is “cheerful as a bag of lemon drops.” After a sudden, apparently unprovoked mood change, his voice “gets padlocks,” and a closed door behind the voice hides a dark cellar where “someone is waiting.” Little Boj’s fear is palpable; the third-person narration describes his attempts to be quiet and good, to silently plead with Daddy not to let “Angryman” out. The enraged father outgrows the page, his monstrous body filling with fiery strokes of color as he lifts the mother while the boy cowers in the corner of the mixed-media compositions. Boj’s desperate feelings overtake instructions to be silent, and help comes from a caring neighbor. Father, mother, and son have straight, dark hair and creamy skin that darkens or reddens as emotions play out. The text and images combine in surreal fashion what is actually happening with what the son is feeling/imagining—an effective strategy to maximize impact while avoiding displays of physical contact. While the number of sentences and pages are longer than in most American picture books, the story conveys the complexity of the protagonist’s exterior and interior worlds, realistically capturing the perception of time and repeated refrains that accompany fear.

Not for the timid, this may be most appreciated as bibliotherapy, its powerful saga signaling to hurting readers that they are not alone—and that asking for help can bring relief. (Picture book. 7-11)

Pub Date: March 5, 2019

ISBN: 978-0-7358-4340-0

Page Count: 48

Publisher: NorthSouth

Review Posted Online: Nov. 11, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2018

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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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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TUCK EVERLASTING

by Natalie Babbitt ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1975

However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the...

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At a time when death has become an acceptable, even voguish subject in children's fiction, Natalie Babbitt comes through with a stylistic gem about living forever.

Protected Winnie, the ten-year-old heroine, is not immortal, but when she comes upon young Jesse Tuck drinking from a secret spring in her parents' woods, she finds herself involved with a family who, having innocently drunk the same water some 87 years earlier, haven't aged a moment since. Though the mood is delicate, there is no lack of action, with the Tucks (previously suspected of witchcraft) now pursued for kidnapping Winnie; Mae Tuck, the middle aged mother, striking and killing a stranger who is onto their secret and would sell the water; and Winnie taking Mae's place in prison so that the Tucks can get away before she is hanged from the neck until....? Though Babbitt makes the family a sad one, most of their reasons for discontent are circumstantial and there isn't a great deal of wisdom to be gleaned from their fate or Winnie's decision not to share it.

However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the first week in August when this takes place to "the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning") help to justify the extravagant early assertion that had the secret about to be revealed been known at the time of the action, the very earth "would have trembled on its axis like a beetle on a pin." (Fantasy. 9-11)