A gently told, wholesome adventure in apartment living.
A capable pair of siblings show initiative and perseverance as they help their mother and themselves.
Nine-year-old twins Henry and Allie love their apartment building, which feels like a “big hug,” but their afternoon activities there are now circumscribed. Their mother, Sam, needs quiet and privacy to work from their small quarters. The impressive duo, responsible for minor cookery and laundry, don’t complain; they look for solutions. They seek out headphones for Sam so they won’t hear the disembodied voices of her co-workers. When they discover a mysterious locked basement room, they resolve to turn it into an office for Sam. With determination, cleverness, hard work, and luck, they overcome financial and situational obstacles. Minor plot thickeners include their discovering that a Black woman architect designed the building, the superintendent’s reconnecting with an old friend, and Henry’s learning to discipline a neighbor’s exuberant poodle. The narrative is lively and well paced, with admirable characters and conflicts that are neatly but believably wrapped up. The family is deeply committed to safeguarding the environment: They walk rather than drive, and they make a point of avoiding aerosol cans, which can’t be recycled. The twins are big on sharing and caring; Allie reads a book on manners, and Henry makes clear that he’s “allergic to lying.” Realistically detailed, cartoon-style black-and-white drawings help set the scene. The twins present white; the cast is diverse.
A gently told, wholesome adventure in apartment living. (Chapter book. 6-8)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9781459839465
Page Count: 88
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
Inspiration, shrink wrapped.
From an artist, poet, and Instagram celebrity, a pep talk for all who question where a new road might lead.
Opening by asking readers, “Have you ever wanted to go in a different direction,” the unnamed narrator describes having such a feeling and then witnessing the appearance of a new road “almost as if it were magic.” “Where do you lead?” the narrator asks. The Road’s twice-iterated response—“Be a leader and find out”—bookends a dialogue in which a traveler’s anxieties are answered by platitudes. “What if I fall?” worries the narrator in a stylized, faux hand-lettered type Wade’s Instagram followers will recognize. The Road’s dialogue and the narration are set in a chunky, sans-serif type with no quotation marks, so the one flows into the other confusingly. “Everyone falls at some point, said the Road. / But I will always be there when you land.” Narrator: “What if the world around us is filled with hate?” Road: “Lead it to love.” Narrator: “What if I feel stuck?” Road: “Keep going.” De Moyencourt illustrates this colloquy with luminous scenes of a small, brown-skinned child, face turned away from viewers so all they see is a mop of blond curls. The child steps into an urban mural, walks along a winding country road through broad rural landscapes and scary woods, climbs a rugged metaphorical mountain, then comes to stand at last, Little Prince–like, on a tiny blue and green planet. Wade’s closing claim that her message isn’t meant just for children is likely superfluous…in fact, forget the just.
Inspiration, shrink wrapped. (Picture book. 6-8, adult)Pub Date: March 23, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-250-26949-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: April 7, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends
Gerald the elephant learns a truth familiar to every preschooler—heck, every human: “Waiting is not easy!”
When Piggie cartwheels up to Gerald announcing that she has a surprise for him, Gerald is less than pleased to learn that the “surprise is a surprise.” Gerald pumps Piggie for information (it’s big, it’s pretty, and they can share it), but Piggie holds fast on this basic principle: Gerald will have to wait. Gerald lets out an almighty “GROAN!” Variations on this basic exchange occur throughout the day; Gerald pleads, Piggie insists they must wait; Gerald groans. As the day turns to twilight (signaled by the backgrounds that darken from mauve to gray to charcoal), Gerald gets grumpy. “WE HAVE WASTED THE WHOLE DAY!…And for WHAT!?” Piggie then gestures up to the Milky Way, which an awed Gerald acknowledges “was worth the wait.” Willems relies even more than usual on the slightest of changes in posture, layout and typography, as two waiting figures can’t help but be pretty static. At one point, Piggie assumes the lotus position, infuriating Gerald. Most amusingly, Gerald’s elephantine groans assume weighty physicality in spread-filling speech bubbles that knock Piggie to the ground. And the spectacular, photo-collaged images of the Milky Way that dwarf the two friends makes it clear that it was indeed worth the wait.
A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends . (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4231-9957-1
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014
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