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FRANK AND BEAN

Name: FRANK AND BEAN
Author: Jamie Michalak
ISBN: 978-0-7636-9559-0

by Jamie Michalak ; illustrated by Bob Kolar ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 8, 2019

Beanie weenies served just right for young campers.

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A hilarious tale of hot dog meets bean.

With his campsite all set up in the great outdoors, solitude-seeking Frank (a bespectacled frankfurter in hat and bun) is more than ready to get down to business writing. But, alas, his “top secret” musings are interrupted by animals. Frank relocates a few times until he finds his desired level of peace and quiet. The next day, Bean (a kidney bean) arrives on the scene with a “HONK!” a “TOOT!” and a “BOOM!” Armed with a plethora of instruments and with a motorcycle atop his microbus, Bean—ever the musical fruit—makes all the noise he can as a “one-bean band.” Even so, Bean needs words in order to write a new song. Frank volunteers to help him. But whether Bean is too “loud” or too “messy,” Frank always finds something to frown about. Good gravy! Will the two ever get along? The Bert-and-Ernie–esque odd-couple pairing results in countless laugh-out-loud exchanges. Kolar’s digitally rendered full-color illustrations take the jokes one step further, offering expressive physical cartoon comedy that’s on a par with Michalak’s clever wordsmithing. Though most pages break up blocks of short text with illustrations, a few pages do reach a double-digit sentence count. With four chapters and a vocabulary of around 200 words and their variants, the story requires a fair degree of reading confidence.

Beanie weenies served just right for young campers. (Early reader. 5-8)

Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2019

ISBN: 978-0-7636-9559-0

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Candlewick

Review Posted Online: July 23, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
THE STINKY FEET MONSTER
by Jamie Michalak ; illustrated by Bob Kolar

- BOOK REVIEW
DAKOTA CRUMB AND THE SECRET BOOKSHOP
by Jamie Michalak ; illustrated by Kelly Murphy

- BOOK REVIEW
FOOD TRUCK FIASCO
by Jamie Michalak ; illustrated by Bob Kolar

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IMANI'S MOON

by JaNay Brown-Wood ; illustrated by Hazel Mitchell ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 14, 2014

While the blend of folklore, fantasy and realism is certainly far-fetched, Imani, with her winning personality, is a child...

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Imani endures the insults heaped upon her by the other village children, but she never gives up her dreams.

The Masai girl is tiny compared to the other children, but she is full of imagination and perseverance. Luckily, she has a mother who believes in her and tells her stories that will fuel that imagination. Mama tells her about the moon goddess, Olapa, who wins over the sun god. She tells Imani about Anansi, the trickster spider who vanquishes a larger snake. (Troublingly, the fact that Anansi is a West African figure, not of the Masai, goes unaddressed in both text and author’s note.) Inspired, the tiny girl tries to find new ways to achieve her dream: to touch the moon. One day, after crashing to the ground yet again when her leafy wings fail, she is ready to forget her hopes. That night, she witnesses the adumu, the special warriors’ jumping dance. Imani wakes the next morning, determined to jump to the moon. After jumping all day, she reaches the moon, meets Olapa and receives a special present from the goddess, a small moon rock. Now she becomes the storyteller when she relates her adventure to Mama. The watercolor-and-graphite illustrations have been enhanced digitally, and the night scenes of storytelling and fantasy with their glowing stars and moons have a more powerful impact than the daytime scenes, with their blander colors.

While the blend of folklore, fantasy and realism is certainly far-fetched, Imani, with her winning personality, is a child to be admired. (Picture book. 5-8)

Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2014

ISBN: 978-1-934133-57-6

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Mackinac Island Press

Review Posted Online: July 28, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2014

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
ON OUR WAY! WHAT A DAY!
by JaNay Brown-Wood ; illustrated by Tamisha Anthony

- BOOK REVIEW
HERE ARE THE SEEDS
by JaNay Brown-Wood ; illustrated by Olivia Amoah

- BOOK REVIEW
MAHOGANY
by JaNay Brown-Wood ; illustrated by John Joven

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TINY T. REX AND THE IMPOSSIBLE HUG

by Jonathan Stutzman ; illustrated by Jay Fleck ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 5, 2019

Wins for compassion and for the refusal to let physical limitations hold one back.

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With such short arms, how can Tiny T. Rex give a sad friend a hug?

Fleck goes for cute in the simple, minimally detailed illustrations, drawing the diminutive theropod with a chubby turquoise body and little nubs for limbs under a massive, squared-off head. Impelled by the sight of stegosaurian buddy Pointy looking glum, little Tiny sets out to attempt the seemingly impossible, a comforting hug. Having made the rounds seeking advice—the dino’s pea-green dad recommends math; purple, New Age aunt offers cucumber juice (“That is disgusting”); red mom tells him that it’s OK not to be able to hug (“You are tiny, but your heart is big!”), and blue and yellow older sibs suggest practice—Tiny takes up the last as the most immediately useful notion. Unfortunately, the “tree” the little reptile tries to hug turns out to be a pterodactyl’s leg. “Now I am falling,” Tiny notes in the consistently self-referential narrative. “I should not have let go.” Fortunately, Tiny lands on Pointy’s head, and the proclamation that though Rexes’ hugs may be tiny, “I will do my very best because you are my very best friend” proves just the mood-lightening ticket. “Thank you, Tiny. That was the biggest hug ever.” Young audiences always find the “clueless grown-ups” trope a knee-slapper, the overall tone never turns preachy, and Tiny’s instinctive kindness definitely puts him at (gentle) odds with the dinky dino star of Bob Shea’s Dinosaur Vs. series.

Wins for compassion and for the refusal to let physical limitations hold one back. (Picture book. 5-7)