So many different ways to say hello or to wish someone a good day, a fine meal, or a happy birthday! (Informational picture...
Children around the world offer greetings and conversational overtures in over 125 languages.
Elaborating on the idea behind Manya Stojic’s Hello World (2002) and similar polyglot consciousness-raisers, Handicott places dozens of small figures on blank maps of each continent (even Antarctica), then introduces each speaker in a separate panel offering a friendly greeting or question. Along with sampling widely spoken languages, readers can try their tongues on “Kiaora” (Maori “Hello”), “Ti mxëë?” (“What’s your name?” in Mixe), or somewhat-longer expressions such as “Najotj’o ri nzengwats’ü” (“Pleased to meet you” in Mazahua). Lists at the end offer further short phrases for each entry, and an associated app (not available for review) supplies audio versions for help with pronunciation. This will be a necessity for just about everybody, as there are no phonetic spellings. The introductory notes about each language’s speakers and linguistic family aren't as detailed as those in Jonathan Litton’s Hello World, illustrated by L'Atelier Cartographik (2016), but there is more vocabulary, along with many more indigenous entries. Pak promotes an expansive view too, with figures that are not only not always dressed in stereotypical national costume, but even in places like Finland and Ireland are nearly all variously dark-skinned. Indeed, the legacy of colonialism seems almost entirely suppressed; a French-Canadian child and an Afrikaans-speaking child are the only obviously white figures in North America and Africa, respectively.
So many different ways to say hello or to wish someone a good day, a fine meal, or a happy birthday! (Informational picture book. 7-11)Pub Date: Dec. 20, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-84780-863-9
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Wide Eyed Editions
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
Fluffy, fast, fun reading for fans of Clueless McGee and the Wimpy Kid.
Miles used to live near the sea. Miles had friends. Miles was his school's greatest prankster...how will he survive a move to Yawnee Valley?
Yawnee Valley is famous for one thing: cows. All new students at Yawnee Valley Science and Letters Academy receive a booklet of 1,346 interesting cow facts from fussbudget fifth-generation principal Barry Barkin. On the first day of school, when Principal Barkin's car is found mysteriously parked on the school's steps, Barkin suspects Miles and assigns Niles Sparks to be Miles' buddy. Miles can't think of anything more awful than spending every moment of every day with smiling, officious, king-of-the-obvious Niles. On top of that, Barkin's son, Josh, has decided Miles is a good bullying target. To make life interesting, Miles plans a perfect prank in his pranking notebook, but it’s foiled. That's followed by an invitation to join forces in pranking from an unexpected source...no way! Let the prank war commence! Barnett and John launch their cow-resplendent illustrated series with the humorous origin story of the pranking duo who lend the series its name. Characters may be stock; however, the pranks are anything but, and it's peppered with cow facts. Cornell’s goofy cartoon illustrations (especially the blasé cows) add giggles aplenty.
Fluffy, fast, fun reading for fans of Clueless McGee and the Wimpy Kid. (Fiction. 7-11)Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4197-1491-7
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2014
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
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