An appealing contemporary fairy tale told with humor and warmth.
After encountering her snow angel, a little girl longs for his return.
Young Sylvie awakens one night to discover a large, shimmering creature with blue-white skin and enormous, snowy wings in her bedroom. When she speaks to the creature, he’s shocked she can see him. He tells Sylvie he’s the snow angel she created last winter and that he watches over her, returning only when she needs him. The angel discovers Sylvie has a fever, wakes her mother, and vanishes. Sylvie’s ill for many months but remembers everything about her snow angel. When she recovers, she thinks obsessively about him, futilely engaging in risky behavior, hoping to trigger his return. In those times she’s truly in danger, swimming and riding her bike, Sylvie’s convinced her angel saves her. As winter approaches, Sylvie decides everyone should have a snow angel and asks her angel for help. The text and illustrations portray Sylvie as an inquisitive, independent, somewhat lonely White girl fascinated by her majestic, magical, winged male protector who, while constrained by professional protocols and resplendent in sparkling robes, responds sympathetically to her attentions. Using line, color washes, and arresting perspectives, the illustrations in this lengthy picture book deftly convey the realism of Sylvie’s world, the wonder of her snow angel, and the sweetness of their bond in scenes of drama as well as stillness.
An appealing contemporary fairy tale told with humor and warmth. (author’s note) (Picture book. 7-10)Pub Date: Oct. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5362-1937-1
Page Count: 72
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
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
A nice and timely depiction of an immigrant child experience.
Speaking up is hard when you’re shy, and it can be even harder if you’ve got two languages in your head.
Third-grader Estrella “Stella” Díaz, is a shy, Mexican-American girl who draws pictures and loves fish, and she lives in Chicago with her mother and older brother, Nick. Jenny, Stella’s best friend, isn’t in her class this year, and Stella feels lonely—especially when she sees that Vietnamese-American Jenny is making new friends. When a new student, Stanley Mason, arrives in her class, Stella introduces herself in Spanish to the white former Texan without realizing it and becomes embarrassed. Surely Stanley won’t want to befriend her after that—but he seems to anyway. Stella often confuses the pronunciation between English and Spanish sounds and takes speech classes. As an immigrant with a green card—a “legal alien,” according to her teacher—Stella feels that she doesn’t fully belong to either American culture or Mexican culture, and this is nicely reflected in her not being fully comfortable in either language, an experience familiar to many immigrant and first-generation children. This early-middle-grade book features italicized Spanish words and phrases with direct translations right after. There is a small subplot about bullying from Stella’s classmate, and readers will cheer as they see how, with the help of her friends and family, Stella overcomes her shyness and gives a presentation on Jacques Cousteau. Dominguez’s friendly black-and-white drawings grace most pages.
A nice and timely depiction of an immigrant child experience. (Fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-62672-858-5
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 12, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2017
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