A poignant reflection on one refugee’s experience.
Members of a family leave their country behind in search of a new home.
Although the young narrator was born after the end of a long war, the family still leads an uneasy existence. They face ramifications for having been on the losing side: “Every day felt like it could be our last,” the protagonist confides. And so, Mum sells the family’s possessions for gold and negotiates for passage out, and they make the dangerous trek under the cover of darkness to a tiny boat. Rations are limited, heavy rains create tumultuous waves, and a mechanical failure occurs. But hope lies ahead. Drawing from her own experiences as a young child fleeing Vietnam with her family, Thai recounts an affecting story of the impact of war and displacement. Lingering trauma and guilt surface at times, but the book closes on a note of hope and gratitude as the family sits down to a New Year’s meal. Though much has changed, the narrative comes full circle to emphasize what has remained the same: the family’s love. Taking on dramatic angles and making expert use of visual metaphor, Dao’s expressive artwork captures the family’s complex emotions. While the story is rooted in the Vietnamese diaspora of the 1970s and 1980s, it’s a tale that will resonate with many; as Thai explains in her author’s note, hers was one of millions, and the number of refugees and displaced people has only grown substantially since.
A poignant reflection on one refugee’s experience. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 18, 2025
ISBN: 9781536239607
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
Enthusiastic and direct, this paean has a lovely ring to it.
Former National Youth Poet Laureate Gorman invites girls to raise their voices and make a difference.
“Today, we finally have a say,” proclaims the first-person plural narration as three girls (one presents Black, another is brown-skinned, and the third is light-skinned) pass one another marshmallows on a stick around a campfire. In Wise’s textured, almost three-dimensional illustrations, the trio traverse fantastical, often abstract landscapes, playing, demonstrating, eating, and even flying, while confident rhymes sing their praises and celebrate collective female victories. The phrase “LIBERATION. FREEDOM. RESPECT” appears on a protest sign that bookends their journey. Simple and accessible, the rhythmic visual storytelling presents an optimistic vision of young people working toward a better world. Sometimes family members or other diverse comrades surround the girls, emphasizing that power comes from community. Gorman is careful to specify that “some of us go by she / And some of us go by they.” She affirms, too, that each person is “a different shape and size,” though the art doesn’t show much variation in body type. Characters also vary in ability. Real-life figures emerge as the girls dream of past luminaries such as author Octavia Butler and activist Marsha P. Johnson, along with present-day role models including poet and journalist Plestia Alaqad and athlete Sha’carri Richardson; silhouettes stand in for heroines as yet unknown. Imagining that “we are where change is going” is hopeful indeed.
Enthusiastic and direct, this paean has a lovely ring to it. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780593624180
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A well-meaning but lackluster tribute.
Readers bid farewell to a beloved canine character.
Momo is—or was—an adorable and very photogenic border collie owned by author Knapp. The many readers who loved him in the previous half-dozen books are in for a shock with this one. “Momo had died” is the stark reality—and there are no photographs of him here. Instead, Momo has been replaced by a flat cartoonish pastiche with strange, staring round white eyes, inserted into some of Knapp’s photography (which remains appealing, insofar as it can be discerned under the mixed media). Previous books contained few or no words. Unfortunately, virtuosity behind a lens does not guarantee mastery of verse. The art here is accompanied by words that sometimes rhyme but never find a workable or predictable rhythm (“We’d fetch and we’d catch, / we’d run and we’d jump. Every day we found new / games to play”). It’s a pity, because the subject—a pet’s death—is an important one to address with children. Of course, Momo isn’t gone; he can still be found “everywhere” in memories. But alas, he can be found here only in the crude depictions of the darling dog so well known from the earlier books.
A well-meaning but lackluster tribute. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781683693864
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Quirk Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
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