bookshelf

RAYMOND AND GRAHAM RULE THE SCHOOL

Name: RAYMOND AND GRAHAM RULE THE SCHOOL
Author: Mike Knudson
ISBN: 978-0-670-01101-8

by Mike Knudson & Steve Wilkinson ; illustrated by Stacy Curtis ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2008

bookshelf

Raymond and best friend Graham have been looking forward to fourth grade since they were first graders, when they were mightily impressed by the big kids. It’s their turn now and, not surprisingly, being fourth graders isn’t quite the unfettered glory they had anticipated. No humorous incident is too low to be recounted, as when Raymond eats a whole jar of prunes, nor too gross, as he also tries kissing as a means to get sick with a cold and get out of the class play. Embarrassment is best handled with a friend at your side, and the devotion these two have for each other makes the worst tolerable. Kids moving on from Herbie Jones or Owen Foote will find this new series right up their alley. Teachers, parents and especially girls are depicted not so much as individual people but as a boys’-eye-view of the generic of the species—but the skimpy character development seems to be the point. The authors draw a bead on the fourth-grade funny bone and hit a bull’s-eye. (Fiction. 8-11)

Pub Date: July 1, 2008

ISBN: 978-0-670-01101-8

Page Count: 128

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2008

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
RAYMOND AND GRAHAM
by Mike Knudson and illustrated by Stacy Curtis

bookshelf

HOW TÍA LOLA CAME TO (VISIT) STAY

From the Tía Lola Stories series , Vol. 1

by Julia Alvarez ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2001

Simple, bella, un regalo permenente: simple and beautiful, a gift that will stay.

bookshelf

Renowned Latin American writer Alvarez has created another story about cultural identity, but this time the primary character is 11-year-old Miguel Guzmán.

When Tía Lola arrives to help the family, Miguel and his hermana, Juanita, have just moved from New York City to Vermont with their recently divorced mother. The last thing Miguel wants, as he's trying to fit into a predominantly white community, is a flamboyant aunt who doesn't speak a word of English. Tía Lola, however, knows a language that defies words; she quickly charms and befriends all the neighbors. She can also cook exotic food, dance (anywhere, anytime), plan fun parties, and tell enchanting stories. Eventually, Tía Lola and the children swap English and Spanish ejercicios, but the true lesson is "mutual understanding." Peppered with Spanish words and phrases, Alvarez makes the reader as much a part of the "language" lessons as the characters. This story seamlessly weaves two culturaswhile letting each remain intact, just as Miguel is learning to do with his own life. Like all good stories, this one incorporates a lesson just subtle enough that readers will forget they're being taught, but in the end will understand themselves, and others, a little better, regardless of la lengua nativa—the mother tongue.

Simple, bella, un regalo permenente: simple and beautiful, a gift that will stay. (Fiction. 9-11)

Pub Date: March 1, 2001

ISBN: 0-375-80215-0

Page Count: 160

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
ALREADY A BUTTERFLY
by Julia Alvarez ; illustrated by Raúl Colón

- BOOK REVIEW
WHERE DO THEY GO?
by Julia Alvarez ; illustrated by Sabra Field

- BOOK REVIEW
HOW TÍA LOLA ENDED UP STARTING OVER
by Julia Alvarez

bookshelf

THE COLOR OF MY WORDS

by Lynn Joseph ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 31, 2000

bookshelf

This standout novella lustrously portrays Ana Rosa and the rich simplicity of her family’s daily life in the Dominican Republic. The linked vignettes and elegant prose vitalize the merengue music, colorful houses, as well as the people’s poverty and the tyranny of the government. Each chapter begins with one of Ana Rosa’s lovely rhythmic verses. A poet and writer at age 12, she steals bits of paper to record everything she sees, hears, and imagines. Ana Rosa’s family is very close by necessity, but it is her beloved brother Guario who has the job that supports them. As the novella proceeds, dark shadows begin to slink through the gentle days. We learn that Ana Rosa’s father drinks too much rum and Coke, especially on Sundays, when he becomes a lurching spectacle. Then an official informs the villagers that to build a hotel, the government has sold the land on which their families have lived for generations. The villagers band together, Ana Rosa writes an article, and her brother Guario becomes their passionate leader. But when the day of the standoff arrives, the villager’s words and rocks are nothing against the guardia’s guns and bulldozers. The heartbreaking result is Guario’s death. Without diluting the sorrow, Joseph (Fly, Bessie, Fly, 1998, etc.) illustrates the good arising from the tragedy as the government cancels the hotel project and Ana Rosa begins writing the life of her brother. This is an achingly beautiful story that will awaken profound emotions in the reader. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-11)