Undeniably marvelous.
A convergence of traditions emerges when a young teacher joins an Indigenous community living beside the Amazon River.
Fresh off her studies, a young woman from the city reluctantly prepares for her first teaching assignment, at La Comunidad Las Delicias, where about 50 Indigenous families live. Her journey from the city to Las Delicias takes four days. Finally, she arrives at the village. Palomino’s panoramic artwork depicts the remarkable trek by featuring a series of expansive, formidable, lushly colored double-page spreads. The teacher settles into the ramshackle school with help from the children. Her treasured books are “the only things that [make] her feel sure of herself.” When a fearful storm brews one day, the students tell the teacher that the great serpent is coming. At first, she dismisses the warnings as mere legends, but as she heads to high ground with the rest of Las Delicias, she sees the river become “a great serpent of mud that carried off everything it found in its path,” including her books. To mend the young teacher’s heartbreak, the women and children of Las Delicias embroider and sew together cloth books, uniting their own stories and legends into a reforged library. Translated from Spanish, this is a gracefully told tale of cross-cultural dialogue, bolstered by stunning illustrations. A subtle, incisive rumination on the repercussions of colonization runs through the work, inviting further rereads. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Undeniably marvelous. (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: Oct. 10, 2023
ISBN: 9780802856173
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Eerdmans
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with...
Reynolds and Brown have crafted a Halloween tale that balances a really spooky premise with the hilarity that accompanies any mention of underwear.
Jasper Rabbit needs new underwear. Plain White satisfies him until he spies them: “Creepy underwear! So creepy! So comfy! They were glorious.” The underwear of his dreams is a pair of radioactive-green briefs with a Frankenstein face on the front, the green color standing out all the more due to Brown’s choice to do the entire book in grayscale save for the underwear’s glowing green…and glow they do, as Jasper soon discovers. Despite his “I’m a big rabbit” assertion, that glow creeps him out, so he stuffs them in the hamper and dons Plain White. In the morning, though, he’s wearing green! He goes to increasing lengths to get rid of the glowing menace, but they don’t stay gone. It’s only when Jasper finally admits to himself that maybe he’s not such a big rabbit after all that he thinks of a clever solution to his fear of the dark. Brown’s illustrations keep the backgrounds and details simple so readers focus on Jasper’s every emotion, writ large on his expressive face. And careful observers will note that the underwear’s expression also changes, adding a bit more creep to the tale.
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with Dr. Seuss’ tale of animate, empty pants. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 22, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0298-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
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
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