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MINGO

Name: MINGO
Author: Lenice U. Strohmeier
ISBN: 0-7614-5111-0

by Lenice U. Strohmeier & illustrated by Bill Farnsworth ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2003

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In a long picture story, a young girl, Olivia, and Mingo, the family slave, watch the sea throughout the seasons to see if the low tide will lay bare Aunt Becky’s Ledge. Mingo tells the child that her grandfather had promised him his freedom if that ever happened. As much as Olivia honors Mingo’s wish, she wants him to stay. In a parallel, one day she finds a baby mockingbird and Mingo shows her how to feed it and keep it alive. Mingo tells her she’ll have to keep it safe until it can fly away, but Olivia doesn’t want to let it go, either. Mingo tells her, “. . . someday you’ll know that keeping another soul caged is wrong.” Many years later, Mingo falls ill and on the day he dies, Olivia is able to walk to Aunt Becky’s Ledge carrying the bird. When she reaches the ledge, she sets the bird free and thinks she hears the song “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” the song she had sung with Mingo, free at last. Oil on canvas illustrations give a sweep to the landscape; the backgrounds are hazy and almost abstract, highlighting the human figures that seem stiff and posed. An author’s note relates that this was a legend in Pride’s Crossing, a section of Beverly, Massachusetts; her research includes the archival records of Mingo that she found in the Beverly Vital Records. In the author’s note, she explains that she created Olivia to make it possible to tell the story and includes a short description of slavery in Massachusetts. Sentimental, but it will find its audience. (Picture book. 7-9)

Pub Date: April 1, 2003

ISBN: 0-7614-5111-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Marshall Cavendish

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2003

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S HISTORICAL FICTION

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LITTLE DAYMOND LEARNS TO EARN

by Daymond John ; illustrated by Nicole Miles ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 21, 2023

It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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HORRIBLE HARRY SAYS GOODBYE

From the Horrible Harry series , Vol. 37

by Suzy Kline ; illustrated by Amy Wummer ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 27, 2018

A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode.

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A long-running series reaches its closing chapters.

Having, as Kline notes in her warm valedictory acknowledgements, taken 30 years to get through second and third grade, Harry Spooger is overdue to move on—but not just into fourth grade, it turns out, as his family is moving to another town as soon as the school year ends. The news leaves his best friend, narrator “Dougo,” devastated…particularly as Harry doesn’t seem all that fussed about it. With series fans in mind, the author takes Harry through a sort of last-day-of-school farewell tour. From his desk he pulls a burned hot dog and other items that featured in past episodes, says goodbye to Song Lee and other classmates, and even (for the first time ever) leads Doug and readers into his house and memento-strewn room for further reminiscing. Of course, Harry isn’t as blasé about the move as he pretends, and eyes aren’t exactly dry when he departs. But hardly is he out of sight before Doug is meeting Mohammad, a new neighbor from Syria who (along with further diversifying a cast that began as mostly white but has become increasingly multiethnic over the years) will also be starting fourth grade at summer’s end, and planning a written account of his “horrible” buddy’s exploits. Finished illustrations not seen.

A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode. (Fiction. 7-9)