Fun and games, with something deeper to think about.
Get moving in whatever activity brings satisfaction and joy.
Jules presents a plethora of possibilities as the theme of children at play provides the structure for a collection of poems that encourage and applaud. Most of the verses are narrated in the first person, describing feelings of hope, patience, determination, frustration, pride, or glorious victory in games played singly, in pairs, or on teams. A batter ignores previous failures and concentrates on the next pitch while a fielder is so in the moment watching a ball that the outfield fence looms behind with the danger of a crash. A new friendship is formed with a clapping game, and a pair of tennis players waits endlessly for court time. Family relationships are forged and changed while engaging in hiking or miniature golf or riding scooters. Feelings of disappointment and hurt are overcome, and goals are set or achieved. Jules does not employ rhymes or obvious rhythm, but each poem flows easily as a brief vignette that captures just the right sentiment and spirit. The poems never indicate the gender or ethnicity of their narrators; that is left to Deppe’s bright, appealing illustrations. Here readers see nonstereotypical depictions of girls and boys of many different racial presentations. One of the children playing the clapping game is in a wheelchair.
Fun and games, with something deeper to think about. (Picture book/poetry. 6-10)Pub Date: April 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-8075-6726-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses.
An NBA star pays tribute to the influence of his grandfather.
In the same vein as his Long Shot (2009), illustrated by Frank Morrison, this latest from Paul prioritizes values and character: “My granddad Papa Chilly had dreams that came true,” he writes, “so maybe if I listen and watch him, / mine will too.” So it is that the wide-eyed Black child in the simply drawn illustrations rises early to get to the playground hoops before anyone else, watches his elder working hard and respecting others, hears him cheering along with the rest of the family from the stands during games, and recalls in a prose afterword that his grandfather wasn’t one to lecture but taught by example. Paul mentions in both the text and the backmatter that Papa Chilly was the first African American to own a service station in North Carolina (his presumed dream) but not that he was killed in a robbery, which has the effect of keeping the overall tone positive and the instructional content one-dimensional. Figures in the pictures are mostly dark-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-250-81003-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
Here’s hoping this will inspire many children to joyfully engage in writing.
Both technique and imaginative impulse can be found in this useful selection of poems about the literary art.
Starting with the essentials of the English language, the letters of “Our Alphabet,” the collection moves through 21 other poems of different types, meters, and rhyme schemes. This anthology has clear classroom applications, but it will also be enjoyed by individual readers who can pore carefully over playful illustrations filled with diverse children, butterflies, flowers, books, and pieces of writing. Tackling various parts of the writing process, from “How To Begin” through “Revision Is” to “Final Edit,” the poems also touch on some reasons for writing, like “Thank You Notes” and “Writing About Reading.” Some of the poems are funny, as in the quirky, four-line “If I Were an Octopus”: “I’d grab eight pencils. / All identical. / I’d fill eight notebooks. / One per tentacle.” An amusing undersea scene dominated by a smiling, orangy octopus fills this double-page spread. Some of the poems are more focused (and less lyrical) than others, such as “Final Edit” with its ending stanzas: “I check once more to guarantee / all is flawless as can be. / Careless errors will discredit / my hard work. / That’s why I edit. / But I don’t like it. / There I said it.” At least the poet tries for a little humor in those final lines.
Here’s hoping this will inspire many children to joyfully engage in writing. (Picture book/poetry. 7-10)Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-68437-362-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Wordsong/Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: Dec. 17, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
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