A magical book that allows death to become a beloved part of life.
The things we fear don’t seem so scary once we get to know them.
John is a classroom skeleton who, after years of helping students learn about science, is retiring to a new home in Grams and Gramps’ outdoor summer kitchen. After John inadvertently scares shoppers at the grocery store, Gramps repairs a few of his broken bones, and Grams dresses him up in an old coat and hat. He looks quite handsome. John fits right into his new family, saving the village from crooks and becoming a part of the stories that Gramps tells the grandchildren. He even takes part in an art exhibit in the city. More importantly, John offers quiet support to Gramps on difficult days and comfort to Grams on worried days. Translated from Estonian, Laan’s vignettes of life with John the Skeleton complement the illustrations—simple yet profound. Plats’ art is quirky but not scary. Her grayscale images make deft use of cross-hatching; mood-busting hot pink punctuates the illustrations, from a scene of John making a snow angel to a depiction of the grandchildren rescuing snails in the garden. His presence feels symbolic, an acknowledgment that aging and death are facts of life; the story will encourage readers to care for one another and to appreciate the little things. Characters have paper-white skin.
A magical book that allows death to become a beloved part of life. (about John) (Fiction. 6-12)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781632063700
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Yonder
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2024
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.
The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
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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