Gets the job done.
Why voting matters.
After learning about the history and importance of voting in her elementary school classroom, narrator and protagonist Callie is smitten by the possibilities of the vote. When her teacher tells the class they will be voting on their class field trip—a choice between the cookie factory (free samples!) or the wilderness park—Callie campaigns for the wilderness park. The park is very important to Callie because it is where she saw her “first swallowtail butterfly,” her “first turtle in a pond,” and even a great horned owl. Additionally, Callie knows that the park’s budget is up for a townwide vote because her grandmother has been out campaigning for the funding. Callie thinks that if the class visits the park, her classmates will experience the beauty of nature and will encourage their families to visit (and support funding) it. Some classmates who have never been to the park don’t see why it would be more fun than a cookie factory, but Callie does her research and makes her presentation. Another classmate makes a presentation for the cookie trip. Then comes the vote….The story unfolds smoothly, and the agreeable but undistinguished illustrations feature people of many skin colors, people who use wheelchairs, and a woman in a hijab. Narrator Callie has pale skin and brown hair. Backmatter pages give further voting information (who, how, history timeline) and resources.
Gets the job done. (Picture book. 5-10)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-8075-8498-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A delightful celebration.
A girl learns to appreciate her long name and the diverse names of others.
A Black child wearing cornrows braided into an afro puff watches her classmates in the schoolyard playing handball. Momma arrives, wearing a bright headwrap, and asks about her first day of school. The girl is upset because no one could say her name—not even the teacher. Reflecting the title, Momma tells her to tell her teacher her name is a song. As they walk through the streets, swaying and dancing to the sounds of street musicians and music from cars, Momma sings names from many different cultures. (Each name is spelled phonetically in parentheses for ease of caregivers reading aloud.) The next day, “the girl didn’t want to go to school, but she had songs to teach.” She even shows her teacher that “Miss Anderson” is a song. This lovely celebration of African American culture, featuring a Muslim family, offers a fresh way to look at the tradition of creating new names; Momma says, “Made-up names come from dreamers. Their real names were stolen long ago so they dream up new ones. They make a way out of no way, make names out of no names—pull them from the sky!” A glossary notes the origins and meanings of the names included in the text, with a note to always listen closely to how a person pronounces their name. The dynamic, pastel-hued illustrations reflect energy and strength.
A delightful celebration. (Picture book. 5-10)Pub Date: July 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-943147-72-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: The Innovation Press
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2020
The book has its heart in the right place, but its mind is too clearly focused on adult agendas and preoccupations.
Barnes’ earnest, rather oblique text interrogating the use of colors as labels for people is at odds with its playful, naive collage art.
The clunky opening line reads, “I’m just a kid coloring the world in the pictures I drew. I look in my crayon box to see which one I’d be…I wonder if kids are colors too,” propelling readers into a lengthy rumination on whether elements of the natural world “see” a child as a color. “Am I a color to the sky? Am I a color in my dreams? Am I a color to the moon? Am I a color to the sea?” The ideological slant declares color an inadequate and limiting description or category for a human being. While a laudable message, it seems a rather abstract one for the intended child audience, though Nelson’s accompanying, playful and, yes, colorful, collage illustrations seem much more in tune with young children’s sensibilities. This title doesn’t measure up to other more developmentally appropriate titles prompting discussion about race, ethnicity and diversity. Let's Talk about Race, by Julius Lester and illustrated by Karen Barbour (2005), and The Skin You Live in, by Michael Tyler and illustrated by David Lee Csicsko (2005), are just two of these.
The book has its heart in the right place, but its mind is too clearly focused on adult agendas and preoccupations. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-58536-541-8
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2011
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