An unusual, tender, and emotional journey in and out of the shadows.
Two creatures venture out of their respective realms, one of complete darkness and the other all sunshine, as their friendship grows.
Shaggy (twiggy, tall, and bristled) sadly peers through the darkness to the “place of shining colors,” wishing he could visit; Sparkle (egg shaped, with lop ears and pink cheeks) takes a sunbath and wonders about the “dark and gloomy” across the way. When the two eventually meet in the “band of gray-blue—[the] half light and half dark” middle space, a friendship forms, one that emboldens them to cross borders. Children will enjoy exploring both territories, mysterious, airy, otherworldly places drawn in what looks like pencil and crayon atop cyanotype backgrounds. Cyanotype illustrations make use of solar paper to create saturated exposures of midnight blue, with objects and etchings appearing in a ghostly white. Backmatter explains this unusual process (and also provides step-by-step DIY directions) in clear, accessible language for children keen to learn. How clever to harness a medium dependent upon light and dark, one that renders exquisite artwork in both the inkiest blues and most luminous whites! This moving picture book offers many metaphors and connections, allowing young readers to see how friends help us navigate happy and sad times, worlds of darkness and light manageable only with a lantern of friendship to light the way.
An unusual, tender, and emotional journey in and out of the shadows. (Picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-7358-4385-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: NorthSouth
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
A kind child in a book for middle-grade readers? There’s no downside to that.
Beatrice Zinker is a kinder, gentler Judy Moody.
Beatrice doesn’t want to be fit in a box. Her first word was “WOW,” not “Mom.” She does her best thinking upside down and prefers to dress like a ninja. Like Judy Moody, she has patient parents and a somewhat annoying younger brother. (She also has a perfectly ordinary older sister.) Beatrice spends all summer planning a top-secret spy operation complete with secret codes and a secret language (pig Latin). But on the first day of third grade, her best friend, Lenny (short for Eleanor), shows up in a dress, with a new friend who wants to play veterinarian at recess. Beatrice, essentially a kind if somewhat quirky kid, struggles to see the upside of the situation and ends up with two friends instead of one. Line drawings on almost every spread add to the humor and make the book accessible to readers who might otherwise balk at its 160 pages. Thankfully, the rhymes in the text do not continue past the first chapter. Children will enjoy the frequent puns and Beatrice’s preference for climbing trees and hanging upside down. The story drifts dangerously close to pedantry when Beatrice asks for advice from a grandmotherly neighbor but is saved by likable characters and upside-down cake. Beatrice seems to be white; Lenny’s surname, Santos, suggests that she may be Latina; their school is a diverse one.
A kind child in a book for middle-grade readers? There’s no downside to that. (Fiction. 6-10)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4847-6738-2
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 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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