A moving tribute to Native children’s survival in the residential school system.
Inspired by her mother’s experience as a child, Janicki (Nak’azdli Whut’en Nation) tells a story of Indigenous resilience and resourcefulness in the face of colonial violence.
Closely connected to her family, the 4-year-old protagonist spends time at the lakeside smokehouse of her ’Utsoo (Dakelh for grandmother) and ’Utsiyan (grandfather). That summer, a priest and a nun encroach upon their family gathering to pressure the narrator and her siblings into attending the Lejac residential school. Conditions at the school are abject, and the children resort to eating toothpaste. The only respites for the protagonist and her siblings are the summer breaks and winter holidays spent at home—requiring her ’Uba (father) to make a 12-hour journey to pick them up. To make it through arduous days of abuse and neglect, the clever child and her friends sew pockets into their petticoats, incorporating what they learned from their families’ beading practices and allowing them to smuggle food out of the kitchen to share with others and keep hope alive—“We sewed our survival into every stitch.” Victor’s (Coast Salish) soft, often understated images depict a heart-rending experience. Though the tale is emotionally fraught, young readers are left with an uplifting reminder about the power and resolve of Indigenous people: “We were geniuses. We are geniuses. We will always be geniuses.” (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A moving tribute to Native children’s survival in the residential school system. (glossary of Dakelh terms, author’s note) (Picture book. 6-11)Pub Date: April 11, 2023
ISBN: 9781459833722
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023
A solid base hit, with guidance on the great American pastime—and life itself.
Actor Renna, best known for his role in the 1993 film The Sandlot, offers baseball-themed anecdotes and affirmations.
Heartfelt reminders that life’s a marathon, not a sprint, may be familiar, but many young readers will find them revelatory. The author also stresses that failure is just as much a part of life as success, encourages children to embrace individuality and work hard despite being the underdog, and emphasizes that practice shows commitment and “prepares you for the big game or the test.” All these lessons will be relatable to young people, and many are supported by real-life stories: basketball superstar Michael Jordan’s short-lived stint in minor league baseball, an unexpected victory during Game One of the 2015 World Series, and Renna’s willingness to swallow his fear when, as a young teen, he was handed a new script just an hour before shooting a pivotal scene in The Sandlot. Each tidbit stands alone, but taken together, all 20 tenets provide a lively road map to life. The colorful spot art features images of diverse young baseball players, plus some visually appealing double-page spreads filled with movement and action. White space is used thoughtfully, allowing readers to reflect on how these words of wisdom might apply to them.
A solid base hit, with guidance on the great American pastime—and life itself. (Informational picture book. 7-11)Pub Date: Feb. 25, 2025
ISBN: 9780593754870
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2024
Hundreds of pages of unbridled uplift boiled down to 40.
From two Nobel Peace Prize winners, an invitation to look past sadness and loneliness to the joy that surrounds us.
Bobbing in the wake of 2016’s heavyweight Book of Joy (2016), this brief but buoyant address to young readers offers an earnest insight: “If you just focus on the thing that is making / you sad, then the sadness is all you see. / But if you look around, you will / see that joy is everywhere.” López expands the simply delivered proposal in fresh and lyrical ways—beginning with paired scenes of the authors as solitary children growing up in very different circumstances on (as they put it) “opposite sides of the world,” then meeting as young friends bonded by streams of rainbow bunting and going on to share their exuberantly hued joy with a group of dancers diverse in terms of age, race, culture, and locale while urging readers to do the same. Though on the whole this comes off as a bit bland (the banter and hilarity that characterized the authors’ recorded interchanges are absent here) and their advice just to look away from the sad things may seem facile in view of what too many children are inescapably faced with, still, it’s hard to imagine anyone in the world more qualified to deliver such a message than these two. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Hundreds of pages of unbridled uplift boiled down to 40. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-48423-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2022
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