The family money jar that paid for A Chair for My Mother is filling up again, and this time it will go for a birthday present for Rosa. "Rosa, you get something real nice," hollers Grandma as the little girl goes off with her Mother—straight to the skate store to buy roller skates like her friends have. The picture of Rosa trying on the spanking white-booted skates is vibrant with pleasure; but just as the skates are about to be wrapped, Rosa decides they "weren't really what I wanted to empty that big jar of money for." The same thing happens with the pink-jacketed dress and blue shoes she tries on at the department store, though you can tell from the picture that she feels pleased and pretty in them, and with the sleeping bag in the sports store. Rosa now fears that she will never find the right present—but after a treat at the Blue Tile Diner, where Mama works, and a wish on a star "that I would know what to wish for, . . . I heard the music." Mama explains that it's an accordion, like "your other grandmother" used to play. "People used to say she could make even the chairs and tables dance." Well, Rosa and readers know right away that this is "exactly" the right present. The music store has a used accordion they can afford; Uncle Sandy offers to pay for lessons; and Rosa's Chagall-like vision of making music while, encircling her, tables, chairs, and little girls dance gaily through the air, is the picture of joy and harmony. The warm intensity of feeling and the juicy expressive colors throughout make every page a gift.
Pub Date: April 18, 1983
ISBN: 0688065260
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: May 11, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1983
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share.
In this latest in the series, Little Blue Truck, driven by pal Toad, is challenged to a countryside race by Racer Red, a sleek, low-slung vehicle.
Blue agrees, and the race is on. Although the two start off “hood to hood / and wheel to wheel,” they switch positions often as they speed their way over dusty country roads. Blue’s farm friends follow along to share in the excitement and shout out encouragement; adult readers will have fun voicing the various animal sounds. Short rhyming verses on each page and several strategic page turns add drama to the narrative, but soft, mottled effects in the otherwise colorful illustrations keep the competition from becoming too intense. Racer Red crosses the finish line first, but Blue is a gracious loser, happy to have worked hard. That’s a new concept for Racer Red, who’s laser-focused on victory but takes Blue’s words (“win or lose, it’s fun to try!”) to heart—a revelation that may lead to worthwhile storytime discussions. When Blue’s farm animal friends hop into the truck for the ride home, Racer Red tags along and learns a second lesson, one about speed. “Fast is fun, / and slow is too, / as long as you’re / with friends.”
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9780063387843
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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