A heartfelt message as the Russia–Ukraine War rages on.
A child chronicles the first 10 days of the Russia–Ukraine War, cuddling her beloved astronaut doll and addressing an imagined “super powerful astronaut in the sky.”
Lushchevska’s text sensitively conjures a child’s wartime fears, hopes, and daily experiences. Ia’s father becomes a soldier for Ukraine, and his joking phone calls brighten her days. She, her mother, and their dog, Pifa, recalibrate their daily lives in Kyiv around air raid sirens, curfews, and reassuring communications with friends, relatives, and professional colleagues. (Ia’s mother, a writer, interacts with the writers’ organization PEN.) Taking dangerous but treasured walks, making posters to encourage solidarity, and exercising together in their apartment help them cope with social disruption. There are moments of despair: On day six, Ia reports, “Today is March 1, our first day of spring, and my pencil is not drawing.” Soon, the pair prepare to leave Kyiv for a safer place with relatives. Amid smoke and broken trees, Ia spots a child’s toy rabbit on the road. That they must rush to their car without picking it up crystallizes a poignant symbol of war’s effect on children. Stepanishcheva’s inventive illustrations, in a patriotic palette of blue and yellow accented with black and red, underscore the family’s closeness despite the upheaval. Portrayed huddled inside a go bag, encircled in Ia’s absent dad’s arms, or entwined, reunited, amid a cultural floral motif, the family—like Ukraine—will survive.
A heartfelt message as the Russia–Ukraine War rages on. (author’s note, discussion questions) (Picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2024
ISBN: 9781668936818
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Tilbury House
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
A kind child in a book for middle-grade readers? There’s no downside to that.
Beatrice Zinker is a kinder, gentler Judy Moody.
Beatrice doesn’t want to be fit in a box. Her first word was “WOW,” not “Mom.” She does her best thinking upside down and prefers to dress like a ninja. Like Judy Moody, she has patient parents and a somewhat annoying younger brother. (She also has a perfectly ordinary older sister.) Beatrice spends all summer planning a top-secret spy operation complete with secret codes and a secret language (pig Latin). But on the first day of third grade, her best friend, Lenny (short for Eleanor), shows up in a dress, with a new friend who wants to play veterinarian at recess. Beatrice, essentially a kind if somewhat quirky kid, struggles to see the upside of the situation and ends up with two friends instead of one. Line drawings on almost every spread add to the humor and make the book accessible to readers who might otherwise balk at its 160 pages. Thankfully, the rhymes in the text do not continue past the first chapter. Children will enjoy the frequent puns and Beatrice’s preference for climbing trees and hanging upside down. The story drifts dangerously close to pedantry when Beatrice asks for advice from a grandmotherly neighbor but is saved by likable characters and upside-down cake. Beatrice seems to be white; Lenny’s surname, Santos, suggests that she may be Latina; their school is a diverse one.
A kind child in a book for middle-grade readers? There’s no downside to that. (Fiction. 6-10)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4847-6738-2
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
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
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