Paw-sitively charming.
A kindhearted boy offers a frightened stray cat refuge in his parents’ bodega.
Miguel hopes he can convince Mami and Papi to let him keep the kitty, and once the vet clears the little feline—christened Lord Lovey Dubby Lobo, or Lolo for short—his parents relent. Blanca y Roja Bodega is now Lolo’s home! But Miguel faces another battle: persuading his pragmatic parents, who want Miguel to become an engineer, to let him join his school’s art club. An aspiring comic book artist, Miguel longs to explore the world (or, at least, the rest of New York City). Desperate, he lies and secretly joins the club but struggles to balance his artistic passions with his responsibilities to his parents, immigrants from the Dominican Republic who have sacrificed to give Miguel a better life. Meanwhile, Lolo, grateful to be off the mean streets, doesn’t understand why Miguel would want to leave the comforts of home. Lolo faces a more worrisome threat when another kitty starts showing up around the bodega. Exploring the burden of parental expectations, this sweet series opener alternates between chapters told from Miguel’s and Lolo’s equally feisty perspectives. Faison’s delightful artwork fleshes out Miguel and his community; interspersed throughout are Miguel’s comics, which star Lolo as the courageous Super Cat. Dollops of gentle humor and a breezy pace contribute to an overall lighthearted tone.
Paw-sitively charming. (Fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: July 23, 2024
ISBN: 9781250903747
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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