Though sincere, this prayer may have the unintended effect of numbing rather than inspiring.
The distinguished naturalist Goodall presents an ecumenical exhortation.
“We pray / to the Great Spiritual Power / in which we live and move / and have our being.” Thus she begins, and she goes on to preach against greed, slave labor, abuse of animals, bullying and torture, harm to the natural world, and all the other grave errors of this time in history. She seems set on cataloging every ill against humankind and animalkind, as well as environmental sins. She offers many strong, heartfelt words, but there is little rhythm or cadence to the sermon, and the almost granular iterations of victimhood threaten to overwhelm. On just one page she cries out against animal experimentation, agribusiness, the fur industry, hunting and trapping, “training for entertainment,” and pet abuse, for instance. The text is set on full-bleed double-page spreads of great beauty. The Iranian artist uses great swathes of clear color and pattern and places birds, animals, flowers, and human figures against them in abstract patterns. Her art gives the words an energy they lack on their own. The book closes with a message from Goodall as the U.N. Messenger of Peace, notes about the Jane Goodall Institute, her Roots & Shoots organization, and a biography of the artist.
Though sincere, this prayer may have the unintended effect of numbing rather than inspiring. (Picture book/homily. 7-12)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-988-8240-49-4
Page Count: 48
Publisher: minedition
Review Posted Online: Sept. 20, 2015
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
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...
A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider and a little girl.
Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"—then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring.
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often informative as amusing, and the whole tenor of appealing wit and pathos will make fine entertainment for reading aloud, too.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1952
ISBN: 978-0-06-026385-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952
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