A fun, inspiring romp.
A young girl navigates the wild, wacky world of fourth grade in Baldwin’s chapter book.
Cina is a bright and energetic fourth grader who loves nothing more than hanging out with her two best friends, Candice and Sarai, and sneaking in a few extra minutes of sleep before getting ready for school. Each chapter starts a new day with her mom urging her out of bed, after which Cina desperately (but fruitlessly) attempts to rid the house of a pesky spider who simply will not leave (“I could not relax with the thought that it could just crawl out from anywhere, but I had to get ready for school”). She then heads off to Mrs. Clark’s class, where she faces various triumphs and trials—some more unusual than others. For example, Cina is in charge of taking care of the classroom pet, a snail named Braxton who keeps escaping his tank. She must also prepare for the major debate tournament that a well-meaning teacher signed her up for (alongside her archnemesis, the know-it-all Drexton Lee). Add to that a disastrous picture day and the big talent show, and Cina has her hands full. But even after navigating various setbacks, she always manages to see the bright side of things. Colorful, cartoonish pictures that appear to be AI-generated begin each chapter (no illustrator is listed). Cina is a delightful protagonist, a kind but no-nonsense Black girl whose signature phrase (“Fix your face”) perfectly captures the book’s silly humor. Baldwin thoughtfully touches upon problems that are both universal and unique to the Black experience, such as Cina’s “freshly pressed hair” shrinking “back into a tiny afro” after a sweaty recess. The action moves along briskly, with the chapters almost acting as separate mini-adventures. The result is a very sweet story.
A fun, inspiring romp.Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9798318809750
Page Count: 86
Publisher: Palmetto Publishing
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Alert readers will find the implicit morals: know your audience, mostly, but also never underestimate the power of “rock”...
The theme of persistence (for better or worse) links four tales of magic, trickery, and near disasters.
Lachenmeyer freely borrows familiar folkloric elements, subjecting them to mildly comical twists. In the nearly wordless “Hip Hop Wish,” a frog inadvertently rubs a magic lamp and finds itself saddled with an importunate genie eager to shower it with inappropriate goods and riches. In the title tale, an increasingly annoyed music-hating witch transforms a persistent minstrel into a still-warbling cow, horse, sheep, goat, pig, duck, and rock in succession—then is horrified to catch herself humming a tune. Athesius the sorcerer outwits Warthius, a rival trying to steal his spells via a parrot, by casting silly ones in Ig-pay Atin-lay in the third episode, and in the finale, a painter’s repeated efforts to create a flattering portrait of an ogre king nearly get him thrown into a dungeon…until he suddenly understands what an ogre’s idea of “flattering” might be. The narratives, dialogue, and sound effects leave plenty of elbow room in Blocker’s big, brightly colored panels for the expressive animal and human(ish) figures—most of the latter being light skinned except for the golden genie, the blue ogre, and several people of color in the “Sorcerer’s New Pet.”
Alert readers will find the implicit morals: know your audience, mostly, but also never underestimate the power of “rock” music. (Graphic short stories. 8-10)Pub Date: June 18, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-59643-750-0
Page Count: 112
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2019
The small, novel-like format (5.5 x 8 inches) will most likely appeal to reluctant or recently independent readers, who...
This much-abridged recreation of the famous tale by Hans Christian Andersen is smoothly told, following the original structure of seven short chapters, while leaving out numerous details and the Christian elements of the original.
Characters (a wolf) and incidents (a final confrontation between Gerda and the Snow Queen) have been added. Because of the elision and truncation of incidents from the original story, Gerda’s quest is less immediate and heart wrenching, and the motivations of many of the characters she meets are harder to understand. For example, it is not clear that the old woman with the magical garden tries to keep Gerda with her because she has always longed for a daughter, nor is the precarious situation of the outlaw’s daughter, who, in the original, sleeps with a knife at her side, apparent. The sophisticated, surreal and dreamlike illustrations created through mixed media, including manipulated photographs of dolls, flowers and paper constructions, often charmingly spill over onto the pages of text.
The small, novel-like format (5.5 x 8 inches) will most likely appeal to reluctant or recently independent readers, who might be encouraged by this simple retelling to seek fuller versions of the tale. (Fairy tale. 8-10)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-84686-662-3
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Barefoot Books
Review Posted Online: July 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2011
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