A thoughtful, empathetic, and stirring child’s-eye view of an all-too-common struggle.
Momma hasn’t been the same since returning from her deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Africa.
The Momma who twirled to Beyoncé and loved gardening is gone, and in her place is a Momma who can’t always manage to get out of bed, who has explosive outbursts, and who’s lost “the sunlight spotlight smile” her child once found so much comfort and joy in. The attentive young protagonist tries to help, dragging a bucket of dirt into the house and opening the curtains to remind Momma of who she was. Momma’s quiet, but she digs her fingers into the dirt, and things slowly begin looking up. Momma makes it clear that none of this is the child’s fault, and the next day, the two smile as the wildflowers bloom and Beyoncé plays in the background. Bell’s masterfully rendered, digitally edited ink and charcoal illustrations depict a Black mother and child whose love for each other is palpable even during moments of anguish. Scenes of them in the garden on Momma’s good days are bright and lively. In contrast, the hard days are illustrated with a surrealistic quality that demonstrates the impact of Momma’s pain on the whole family. Bingham’s text is honest yet child-friendly; laudably, she makes it clear that the burden of resolving a parent’s PTSD shouldn’t fall upon a child and that grappling with mental-health issues takes time.
A thoughtful, empathetic, and stirring child’s-eye view of an all-too-common struggle. (author’s note) (Picture book. 4-9)Pub Date: Oct. 29, 2024
ISBN: 9781419761553
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2024
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
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
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