A deeply felt episode exploring themes of family ties and empathy for wild creatures.
A child and his grandmother can’t get their two new parakeets to eat until they think outside the cage.
Valério calls on memories of his native Brazil for a set of short chapters enriched with spot and larger images of shimmering birds, feathers, flowers, and foliage. Young Francisco’s initial delight when his Grandma Antonia comes home with a pair of beautiful parakeets—“green as fresh leaves, as green as the inside of an avocado, as green as the skin of a guava not yet ripe”—turns to anxiety when, instead of taking the offered polenta, crackers, collard greens, or even birdseed from the local pet shop, the two birds just huddle fearfully in a corner of their cage as days go by. Why won’t they eat? In the end, Grandma’s observation that parakeets “are birds that cannot live alone” hints at the reason…and seeing their excited reaction when a whole flock of wild parakeets lands in a nearby guava tree, Francisco soon realizes what he has to do. Along with capturing a sense of comfortable intimacy in recording visits and exchanges with his grandmother, Francisco’s account is infused with sensory pleasures, from seeing a neighbor’s lush garden to watching polenta being made to sharing a delicious meal of rice and beans. Both the boy and his grandma have lightly tanned skin in the illustrations.
A deeply felt episode exploring themes of family ties and empathy for wild creatures. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9781773067957
Page Count: 88
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023
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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