A sweet start ripe for more installments
Faith and friendship are at the heart of Bouwman’s (A Crack in the Sea, 2017, etc.) new chapter-book series.
Eight-year old Eleanor has just moved, against her protestations, into a new duplex with her family. Now she’s suddenly forced to share a room with her older sister, and to top it off, her beloved goldfish, Scrumpy IV, has just bought the farm. Eleanor loves Darth Vader and building. The upstairs of the duplex is home to 7-year-old home-schooler Owen, who loves secret codes and fencing. He has not had much experience making friends, much less ones with so forceful a personality as Eleanor. When Eleanor announces her plan to run away, back to her beloved blue house, in order to bury Scrumpy alongside his predecessors and to take up residence herself in the backyard treehouse, Owen is along for a wild ride. Although the story is brief, Bouwman manages to bring depth to each of the protagonists as the narrative shifts between Owen’s and Eleanor’s perspectives, both wrestling with their choices and values. The particular moral and theological bent of the narrative may limit the audience somewhat—Eleanor’s concerns about losing her home are relieved when she’s reminded that her “real home is always with God”—but the overarching themes of friendship, familial love, and resiliency in the face of change are fairly universal. Brown-skinned Eleanor has a mixed heritage, with a Costa Rican–born father and American-born mother, while Owen presents white.
A sweet start ripe for more installments . (Fiction. 5-9)Pub Date: April 3, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5064-3972-3
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Sparkhouse
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018
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
Say hello to a relatable and rewarding early reader!
Fun with friends makes for a great day.
Norbit, a salmon-colored worm with a pink kerchief, joyfully greets the day and everyone he encounters. “Hello, friends! It’s time for fun with the sun! Let’s play!” He and his menagerie of forest pals—including the sun, who grows limbs and descends from the sky—exuberantly engage in various forms of physical activity such as jumping, going down a slide, spinning around, and watching the clouds go by. Young readers will readily relate, as these are games that most children are familiar with. As day turns to night, Norbit says farewell to Sun and welcomes Moon with an invitation to continue the fun. Watkins has created a vivid world of movement and merriment. Her illustrations feature bright bursts of color that match the energy of the text, with most sentences ending in an exclamation point. The author/illustrator incorporates many elements that make for an ideal early-reading experience (despite the use of a contraction or two): art free from clutter, text consisting of words with only one or two syllables, and repetition and recurring bits, such as a continued game of hide-and-seek with Sun. Inspired by never-before-seen sketches from the Dr. Seuss Collection archives at the University of California San Diego, this is the first title for Seuss Studios, a new imprint for original stories from “emerging authors and illustrators” who “honor Seuss’s hallmark spirit of creativity and imagination.”
Say hello to a relatable and rewarding early reader! (author's note) (Early reader. 5-8)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780593646212
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Seuss Studios
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
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