Gentle and heartwarming.
A child struggles with feelings of sadness.
An unseen narrator repeats the title phrase to underscore a family’s fatigue. “At the end of the day, sometimes everyone is exhausted. Or bored. Or in a mood.” There’s homework to be done or piano lessons to attend. There’s often no time to play outside, especially if it’s too cold. And don’t forget chores. Even a seemingly small disappointment, like a missing puzzle piece, hangs over the family like a dark cloud. Briefly, though, such as during a family bike ride, things seems OK. What’s going on? The clues are there if readers carefully observe Bontigao’s cozy, digital illustrations. Dad and the children are engaged in a variety of activities, but Mom is absent. Readers eventually realize that she’s far away and sorely missed, seen only on a video call in her military uniform. For she is the missing puzzle piece. When she returns, the family’s emotions pour out, and all is right with their world, now filled with reassuring, comforting sights and sounds and lots of kisses and hugs. The lyrical text is paired with tender visuals that primarily focus on one of the children, who’s by turn confused, sad, and hopeful—and whose situation will elicit commiseration and compassion, especially from other kids in military families. Dad presents Asian, while Mom is brown-skinned, and the children vary in skin tone.
Gentle and heartwarming. (Picture book. 4-9)Pub Date: April 23, 2024
ISBN: 9780593378632
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 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
From curds to riches, from meltdown to uplift—this multicourse romp delivers.
A winning wheel of cheddar with braggadocio to match narrates a tale of comeuppance and redemption.
From humble beginnings among kitchen curds living “quiet lives of pasteurization,” the Big Cheese longs to be the best and builds success and renown based on proven skills and dependable results: “I stuck to the things I was good at.” When newcomer Wedge moves to the village of Curds-on-Whey, the Cheese’s star status wobbles and falls. Turns out that quiet, modest Wedge is also multitalented. At the annual Cheese-cathlon, Wedge bests six-time winner Cheese in every event, from the footrace and chess to hat making and bread buttering. A disappointed Cheese throws a full-blown tantrum before arriving at a moment of truth: Self-calming, conscious breathing permits deep relief that losing—even badly—does not result in disaster. A debrief with Wedge “that wasn’t all about me” leads to further realizations: Losing builds empathy for others; obsession with winning obscures “the joy of participating.” The chastened cheddar learns to reserve bragging for lifting up friends, because anyone can be the Big Cheese. More didactic and less pun-rich than previous entries in the Food Group series, this outing nevertheless couples a cheerful refrain with pithy life lessons that hit home. Oswald’s detailed, comical illustrations continue to provide laughs, including a spot with Cheese onstage doing a “CHED” talk.
From curds to riches, from meltdown to uplift—this multicourse romp delivers. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9780063329508
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
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