Heartwarming.
Once again, Polacco brings forth a new family story, this time about her grandmother.
One of nine children, Estella was born in a “Mermaid’s Purse,” a birth membrane that people believed brought “God’s blessing and gifts [that] will fall upon the child like spring rain.” For the little white girl, her gift is an uncanny ability to foretell storms, but more than anything, she loves being read to at night. “As soon as Stella could stretch her right arm over the top of her own head and grasp her left ear, she [is] sent off to school,” where she teaches herself to read. (Children will be puzzled at the unexplained shift from Estella to Stella as the narrative progresses.) She amasses so many books that her father builds a library for her, which she calls the Mermaid’s Purse. She shares her books with all the farming folks. Thanks to her books, she rescues a herd of goats, saves Moon Eyes Fred from drowning, and even teaches Pig Ears Lonsberry to read. The day she senses a tornado coming, her family takes shelter, but the twister demolishes her beloved library. All her books are gone. Or are they? Polacco’s signature textual and illustrative styles blend to depict a folksy, bygone past. The pencil-and-marker artwork lovingly evokes the poignant memory, making this one of her most personal-feeling books. Three photos of her grandmother on the back page add backbone to the tale.
Heartwarming. (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-16692-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
Adventure, humor, and smart, likable characters make for a winning chapter book.
Ada Twist’s incessant stream of questions leads to answers that help solve a neighborhood crisis.
Ada conducts experiments at home to answer questions such as, why does Mom’s coffee smell stronger than Dad’s coffee? Each answer leads to another question, another hypothesis, and another experiment, which is how she goes from collecting data on backyard birds for a citizen-science project to helping Rosie Revere figure out how to get her uncle Ned down from the sky, where his helium-filled “perilous pants” are keeping him afloat. The Questioneers—Rosie the engineer, Iggy Peck the architect, and Ada the scientist—work together, asking questions like scientists. Armed with knowledge (of molecules and air pressure, force and temperature) but more importantly, with curiosity, Ada works out a solution. Ada is a recognizable, three-dimensional girl in this delightfully silly chapter book: tirelessly curious and determined yet easily excited and still learning to express herself. If science concepts aren’t completely clear in this romp, relationships and emotions certainly are. In playful full- and half-page illustrations that break up the text, Ada is black with Afro-textured hair; Rosie and Iggy are white. A closing section on citizen science may inspire readers to get involved in science too; on the other hand, the “Ode to a Gas!” may just puzzle them. Other backmatter topics include the importance of bird study and the threat palm-oil use poses to rainforests.
Adventure, humor, and smart, likable characters make for a winning chapter book. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: April 16, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3422-9
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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