Goofy humor but real, relatable anxiety, soothed by a calm, reasonably effective teacher.
Will our hero chicken out of learning to tell time?
A big analog clock hangs in the barn, but, unable to decipher it, Chicken showed up late to a big meeting with Farmer Ed. Now, the farmer has dispatched Boxer Brutus to “teach [Chicken] a lesson once and for all.” A terrified Chicken is certain that this doesn’t bode well. And Boxer Brutus is scheduled to come at 10 a.m.—less than an hour away, as the savvier barnyard animals realize. Kindhearted Sheep teaches Chicken to read a clock, while Goat supplies the sass, many of the extremely corny jokes, and regular but unhelpful suggestions. As Sheep draws a clock and then uses the barn clock to teach Chicken, we see the minute hand advance, starting at 9:10 and creeping up little by little to 9:50. Finally, a frantic Chicken eyes the clock and, unprompted, exclaims, “It’s 9:58!” Chicken can tell time! Brutus arrives but is hardly the Golden Gloves champion envisioned—the word boxer refers to the dog breed. The ending is a bit of a whimper as Brutus is now no longer needed and simply leaves. But the art is amusing: Sheep and Goat have round bulging eyes and toothy grins. Chicken’s golf ball–shaped eyes roll dramatically, and our protagonist is often stretched or curled into anguished shapes. The limited examples on the barn clock are supplemented in the backmatter.
Goofy humor but real, relatable anxiety, soothed by a calm, reasonably effective teacher. (examples of digital and analog clocks, with matching challenge) (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9798890630278
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clavis
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Adventure, humor, and smart, likable characters make for a winning chapter book.
Ada Twist’s incessant stream of questions leads to answers that help solve a neighborhood crisis.
Ada conducts experiments at home to answer questions such as, why does Mom’s coffee smell stronger than Dad’s coffee? Each answer leads to another question, another hypothesis, and another experiment, which is how she goes from collecting data on backyard birds for a citizen-science project to helping Rosie Revere figure out how to get her uncle Ned down from the sky, where his helium-filled “perilous pants” are keeping him afloat. The Questioneers—Rosie the engineer, Iggy Peck the architect, and Ada the scientist—work together, asking questions like scientists. Armed with knowledge (of molecules and air pressure, force and temperature) but more importantly, with curiosity, Ada works out a solution. Ada is a recognizable, three-dimensional girl in this delightfully silly chapter book: tirelessly curious and determined yet easily excited and still learning to express herself. If science concepts aren’t completely clear in this romp, relationships and emotions certainly are. In playful full- and half-page illustrations that break up the text, Ada is black with Afro-textured hair; Rosie and Iggy are white. A closing section on citizen science may inspire readers to get involved in science too; on the other hand, the “Ode to a Gas!” may just puzzle them. Other backmatter topics include the importance of bird study and the threat palm-oil use poses to rainforests.
Adventure, humor, and smart, likable characters make for a winning chapter book. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: April 16, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3422-9
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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