A celebration of the artistic spirit, overlaid with wry topicality.
A misfit robot finds his métier—and his bliss—at an art museum.
Ever since a paint-speckled chip was inserted into his head at the assembly factory, Robot has known he was different from the other automatons who work at the warehouse. Abstract washes of color fill his dreams at night—a welcome contrast from his monochromatic world—and he often daydreams, which leads to a wrong turn when he’s sent for reprogramming by a disapproving supervisor. Stumbling out of the warehouse for the first time, he’s struck by the vivid colors. When he wanders into an art museum, his creative spirit is unleashed—with some tech support from a painting course CD-ROM he inserts into his drive. The result is exuberant, expressionistic explosions of color brushed onto walls inside and outside, all over the city. “It was big, colorful, and grand. Just like his dreams,” the author concludes, rounding off his AI epiphany with perhaps-prescient images of the metal artist taking a bow before his solo show at the art museum, followed by images of robots in an array of roles from chef and country singer to filmmaker and beat dancer. Young readers with unformed creative urges of their own will relate to Robot’s feeling of otherness and may take heart in seeing how he finds his way. The robots come in many shapes; Biedrzycki goes retro for his depiction of Robot. Human characters are racially diverse.
A celebration of the artistic spirit, overlaid with wry topicality. (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9781623543747
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2024
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
A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode.
A long-running series reaches its closing chapters.
Having, as Kline notes in her warm valedictory acknowledgements, taken 30 years to get through second and third grade, Harry Spooger is overdue to move on—but not just into fourth grade, it turns out, as his family is moving to another town as soon as the school year ends. The news leaves his best friend, narrator “Dougo,” devastated…particularly as Harry doesn’t seem all that fussed about it. With series fans in mind, the author takes Harry through a sort of last-day-of-school farewell tour. From his desk he pulls a burned hot dog and other items that featured in past episodes, says goodbye to Song Lee and other classmates, and even (for the first time ever) leads Doug and readers into his house and memento-strewn room for further reminiscing. Of course, Harry isn’t as blasé about the move as he pretends, and eyes aren’t exactly dry when he departs. But hardly is he out of sight before Doug is meeting Mohammad, a new neighbor from Syria who (along with further diversifying a cast that began as mostly white but has become increasingly multiethnic over the years) will also be starting fourth grade at summer’s end, and planning a written account of his “horrible” buddy’s exploits. Finished illustrations not seen.
A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Nov. 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-451-47963-1
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2018
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