Friendship is enduring in this hilarious adventure just right for independent young readers.
Despite best intentions, Taylor has been unable to achieve his dream of exploring the world, as described in series opener Sydney & Taylor Explore the Whole Wide World (2021).
Taylor is a hedgehog with many Big Ideas; his best friend, Sydney, is a skunk who much prefers a quiet existence in their well-appointed burrow. Taylor is brave, until he isn’t, while calm, supportive Sydney is usually the one who rescues him from his follies. This time Taylor’s Big Idea is so outrageous that Sydney laughs at him, deeply hurting his feelings. Taylor has decided that he is going to fly. A plan promulgated by some friendly birds works for a while, but Taylor hits panic position and Sydney breaks the fall. Deer send him to a bat, a mammal that flies. Taylor is pulled up on the roof with an umbrella tied to him for webbing. But he panics again, and Sydney breaks this fall also. A flying toy buzzes over and lands near them, giving Sydney an even Bigger Idea. A few safety measures, some near disasters, and more Big Ideas later, and the friends are happily safe at home after a successful conclusion. Davies tells the tale with great humor in vivid, expressive syntax, working in a few animal facts along the way. Taylor and Sydney are genuine friends who accept each other’s idiosyncrasies. Bright illustrations appear in vignettes, single-, and double-page spreads, closely following the action, capturing the characters’ every changing emotion in expressive faces and body language, and adding many delightful and intricate details.
Friendship is enduring in this hilarious adventure just right for independent young readers. (Animal fantasy. 6-9)Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-358-10635-7
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
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
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted...
Reinvention is the name of the game for two blobs of clay.
A blue-eyed gray blob and a brown-eyed brown blob sit side by side, unsure as to what’s going to happen next. The gray anticipates an adventure, while the brown appears apprehensive. A pair of hands descends, and soon, amid a flurry of squishing and prodding and poking and sculpting, a handsome gray wolf and a stately brown owl emerge. The hands disappear, leaving the friends to their own devices. The owl is pleased, but the wolf convinces it that the best is yet to come. An ear pulled here and an extra eye placed there, and before you can shake a carving stick, a spurt of frenetic self-exploration—expressed as a tangled black scribble—reveals a succession of smug hybrid beasts. After all, the opportunity to become a “pig-e-phant” doesn’t come around every day. But the sound of approaching footsteps panics the pair of Picassos. How are they going to “fix [them]selves” on time? Soon a hippopotamus and peacock are staring bug-eyed at a returning pair of astonished hands. The creative naiveté of the “clay mates” is perfectly captured by Petty’s feisty, spot-on dialogue: “This was your idea…and it was a BAD one.” Eldridge’s endearing sculpted images are photographed against the stark white background of an artist’s work table to great effect.
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted fun of their own . (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 20, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-316-30311-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
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