The Dillons deliver their take on one of children’s publishing trends du jour. Imagining a “dream band” made of actual jazz greats—some of whom actually played together—the authors paint stylized, affectionate portraits of eight artists—including Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk and Ella Fitzgerald—playing in a room full of seated, enthralled fans, young and old. Below each double spread, couplets run across a uniform border of white space. The unremitting end rhymes sometimes subvert scansion, and the anonymous narrator’s purported emotional involvement in the evening seems stilted. The choice of Stanley Clarke as the bass player seems odd, since he’s more than a generation this side of the other musicians; and the “guest with guitar” is neither named nor featured in the backmatter’s brief biographies. While the handsome paintings’ fidelity to the musicians’ likenesses is mainly irreproachable, the depictions of Ella vary considerably from spread to spread, never really capturing her essence. A CD (on which the authors introduce the instruments and a band and singer do the book’s lyrics as a jazz tune) is included. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-590-47893-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Blue Sky/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2007
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
One of the watershed moments in African-American history—the defeat of James Braddock at the hands of Joe Louis—is here given an earnest picture-book treatment. Despite his lack of athletic ability, Sammy wants desperately to be a great boxer, like his hero, getting boxing lessons from his friend Ernie in exchange for help with schoolwork. However hard he tries, though, Sammy just can’t box, and his father comforts him, reminding him that he doesn’t need to box: Joe Louis has shown him that he “can be the champion at anything [he] want[s].” The high point of this offering is the big fight itself, everyone crowded around the radio in Mister Jake’s general store, the imagined fight scenes played out in soft-edged sepia frames. The main story, however, is so bent on providing Sammy and the reader with object lessons that all subtlety is lost, as Mister Jake, Sammy’s father, and even Ernie hammer home the message. Both text and oil-on-canvas-paper illustrations go for the obvious angle, making the effort as a whole worthy, but just a little too heavy-handed. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: May 1, 2004
ISBN: 1-58430-161-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Lee & Low Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2004
A charming year in the life of a most idyllic farm; horse lovers will be entranced.
Let’s go for a pony ride!
Lily, a young Black child who lives on a farm, takes readers on a tour. Meadows’ verse leads us step by step through the seasons—ponies grazing in a pasture on a warm day, Lily taking part in a pony show in autumn, and ponies hunkering down in the barn, taking refuge from the “frost and snow” of winter. The easy rhythm of the text pairs well with Cloud’s soft, pastoral vistas. While the story is delivered with a light touch, it still shows the hard work of caring for a large animal. “Soapy water in a pail. / Gentle strokes from head to tail.” “Pick the hooves / for stone and dirt / I notice when / my pony’s hurt.” Exuding familial warmth, the bright artwork lets readers follow Lily from pastures to picnics—and even, best of all, to the arrival of a newcomer: “A foal is born / New life is here.” This easy reader will speak to any child who has wished for a pony of their own and refreshingly centers a family of color—something not often seen in similar titles.
A charming year in the life of a most idyllic farm; horse lovers will be entranced. (Early reader. 5-8)Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9780593483169
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2023
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