A rather lackluster tale about the joy of reading and libraries.
Taking solace in books, a bullied child finds her confidence (and future career) at the public library.
Before rising to fame as a librarian, literary critic, and author, Nancy Pearl was a lonely kid who “loved reading more than recess.” While the school library offers a safe haven from teasing classmates, it isn’t open on the weekends; this prompts Nancy to make her first trip to the Detroit Public Library. Two friendly librarians welcome the shy, light-skinned girl and help her find the items she’s most interested in: books about horses. Nancy then visits the branch every weekend, reading through the librarians’ recommendations and building confidence. Eventually, the librarians convince Nancy to “give a talk about horse books” to her fellow students. Spurred on by their encouragement, the equine-loving reader leans on her imagination to calm her nerves and get through her presentation. The talk magically transforms her relationships with her peers, who go from belittling her love of reading to “[circling] around her with questions about books.” Nancy grows up to be a librarian, “because reading, Nancy knew, helped people find dreams of their own…with the turn of every page.” Gentle, slightly fuzzy illustrations depict Nancy’s journey. Hampered by a clunky narrative and unfortunate pacing, however, this title doesn’t stand out in the growing field of engaging biographies for children. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A rather lackluster tale about the joy of reading and libraries. (author’s note, photographs) (Picture-book biography. 6-10)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-63217-318-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little Bigfoot/Sasquatch
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2022
Hundreds of pages of unbridled uplift boiled down to 40.
From two Nobel Peace Prize winners, an invitation to look past sadness and loneliness to the joy that surrounds us.
Bobbing in the wake of 2016’s heavyweight Book of Joy (2016), this brief but buoyant address to young readers offers an earnest insight: “If you just focus on the thing that is making / you sad, then the sadness is all you see. / But if you look around, you will / see that joy is everywhere.” López expands the simply delivered proposal in fresh and lyrical ways—beginning with paired scenes of the authors as solitary children growing up in very different circumstances on (as they put it) “opposite sides of the world,” then meeting as young friends bonded by streams of rainbow bunting and going on to share their exuberantly hued joy with a group of dancers diverse in terms of age, race, culture, and locale while urging readers to do the same. Though on the whole this comes off as a bit bland (the banter and hilarity that characterized the authors’ recorded interchanges are absent here) and their advice just to look away from the sad things may seem facile in view of what too many children are inescapably faced with, still, it’s hard to imagine anyone in the world more qualified to deliver such a message than these two. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Hundreds of pages of unbridled uplift boiled down to 40. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-48423-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2022
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses.
An NBA star pays tribute to the influence of his grandfather.
In the same vein as his Long Shot (2009), illustrated by Frank Morrison, this latest from Paul prioritizes values and character: “My granddad Papa Chilly had dreams that came true,” he writes, “so maybe if I listen and watch him, / mine will too.” So it is that the wide-eyed Black child in the simply drawn illustrations rises early to get to the playground hoops before anyone else, watches his elder working hard and respecting others, hears him cheering along with the rest of the family from the stands during games, and recalls in a prose afterword that his grandfather wasn’t one to lecture but taught by example. Paul mentions in both the text and the backmatter that Papa Chilly was the first African American to own a service station in North Carolina (his presumed dream) but not that he was killed in a robbery, which has the effect of keeping the overall tone positive and the instructional content one-dimensional. Figures in the pictures are mostly dark-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-250-81003-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
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