Young readers will enjoy this earnest story’s constructive lesson.
A young girl and her classmates learn how to celebrate diversity in Tabron’s illustrated children’s book, based on events from her own life.
La June has lots of friends in her Detroit neighborhood, but her closest friend is Jenefer. They enjoy imaginary adventures in Jenefer’s treehouse and play softball in the park. They’re in the same class at school, and La June looks forward to eating lunch with her best friend each day. But one day, Jenefer moves away, and when La June tries to make new friends, she’s suddenly aware of the strict social dynamics of her class. Jenefer was white and La June is Black; in the lunchroom, “She and Jenefer always sat at the middle table, but no one is sitting there now. As she looks around the room, she notices everyone is sitting with people who look like them.” Things become further complicated when Eva and her family move into Jenefer’s old house; Eva has different interests than Jenefer did, and La June is confused by the traditional Mexican food that Eva’s family eats. However, with the help of La June’s mother and her teacher, Mr. Stokes, she and her classmates begin having discussions about their differences and learn about what it takes to unite as a community. Tabron’s book will most appeal to children in the upper elementary age group, due to the large amount of text per page and the overall length of the story. Overall, the narrative delivers an effective message and has a pleasingly natural flow with engaging characters. Tabron, the chief executive officer of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, helpfully reveals in the back matter that her current work with children and families relates to the healing that she found in her experiences at school in Detroit, which inspired this book. Grooms’ full-color cartoon illustrations feature classrooms with diverse students, who are portrayed with a range of skin tones.
Young readers will enjoy this earnest story’s constructive lesson.Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9781633311039
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Disruption Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Halloween is used merely as a backdrop; better holiday titles for young readers are available.
A ghost learns to appreciate his differences.
The little ghost protagonist of this title is unusual. He’s a quilt, not a lightweight sheet like his parents and friends. He dislikes being different despite his mom’s reassurance that his ancestors also had unconventional appearances. Halloween makes the little ghost happy, though. He decides to watch trick-or-treaters by draping over a porch chair—but lands on a porch rail instead. A mom accompanying her daughter picks him up, wraps him around her chilly daughter, and brings him home with them! The family likes his looks and comforting warmth, and the little ghost immediately feels better about himself. As soon as he’s able to, he flies out through the chimney and muses happily that this adventure happened only due to his being a quilt. This odd but gently told story conveys the importance of self-respect and acceptance of one’s uniqueness. The delivery of this positive message has something of a heavy-handed feel and is rushed besides. It also isn’t entirely logical: The protagonist could have been a different type of covering; a blanket, for instance, might have enjoyed an identical experience. The soft, pleasing illustrations’ palette of tans, grays, white, black, some touches of color, and, occasionally, white text against black backgrounds suggest isolation, such as the ghost feels about himself. Most humans, including the trick-or-treating mom and daughter, have beige skin. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-16.6-inch double-page spreads viewed at 66.2% of actual size.)
Halloween is used merely as a backdrop; better holiday titles for young readers are available. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-7352-6447-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
Just the thing for anyone with a Grinch-y tree of their own in the yard.
A grouchy sapling on a Christmas tree farm finds that there are better things than lights and decorations for its branches.
A Grinch among the other trees on the farm is determined never to become a sappy Christmas tree—and never to leave its spot. Its determination makes it so: It grows gnarled and twisted and needle-less. As time passes, the farm is swallowed by the suburbs. The neighborhood kids dare one another to climb the scary, grumpy-looking tree, and soon, they are using its branches for their imaginative play, the tree serving as a pirate ship, a fort, a spaceship, and a dragon. But in winter, the tree stands alone and feels bereft and lonely for the first time ever, and it can’t look away from the decorated tree inside the house next to its lot. When some parents threaten to cut the “horrible” tree down, the tree thinks, “Not now that my limbs are full of happy children,” showing how far it has come. Happily for the tree, the children won’t give up so easily, and though the tree never wished to become a Christmas tree, it’s perfectly content being a “trick or tree.” Martinez’s digital illustrations play up the humorous dichotomy between the happy, aspiring Christmas trees (and their shoppers) and the grumpy tree, and the diverse humans are satisfyingly expressive.
Just the thing for anyone with a Grinch-y tree of their own in the yard. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4926-7335-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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