Patchy but farcical and, occasionally, explosive.
Kidnappers from the United States and other challenges face young Ellis and her poppable companion in this Dutch import’s second episode.
The kidnappers, Farmer Bill and cold-eyed corporate executive Coraline Corn, aren’t after popcorn-loving Ellis but her tantrum-prone buddy Bob, an illegally enhanced kernel the size of a kiwi (fruit) that was exported to the Netherlands by mistake. Distracted by both the need to keep Bob’s existence a secret from her dads and everyone else and her efforts to sneak pocketsful of popcorn into school where it has been unjustly banned as an unhealthy food, Ellis has no idea that Bob’s in danger. But then he’s suddenly snatched in the middle of a school field day sponsored by wildly popular internet nutrition guru Holly Jolly. What to do? Rinck seems so enamored of her premise (which was already well developed in the 2021 opener, Popcorn Bob) that she has trouble spinning out an actual plotline or moving it along. Still, there’s a lot of random scrambling about and gloriously muddy foolery—much of it carried on silently or nearly so in the graphite drawings that share every page with the short lines of generously sized narrative. She brings it to a happy close that’s expedited by some unexpected help from one of the supposed bad guys. Ellis and her dads are White, but her friend Dante and some of her schoolmates are depicted with shaded skin.
Patchy but farcical and, occasionally, explosive. (Fantasy. 7-10)Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-64614-095-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Levine Querido
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 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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