A helpful lesson about using breathing to direct emotions.
A costumed child talks about the superpower of breath in this picture book.
Ash, a caped crusader, has a friend, Breath, that can help calm uncomfortable emotions. Ash describes how sad feelings cause Breath to stutter, angry emotions make Breath blow out through the nostrils, and scared feelings can result in Breath being held. But each emotion has a different breathing pattern to use as a superpower, and they all are accompanied by a mantra: “When I change the way I’m breathing, I change the way I’m feeling.” Gillespie and Corey introduce each new type of breath with a mispronunciation, employing “zad flutterbye” to encourage readers to guess “sad butterfly,” among others. Illustrator Bardy changes Ash’s costume for each emotion, giving the garment a separate and distinct color to emphasize the feelings that Ash and the other featured children experience. Each emotion recommends a specific breathing pattern. But rather than the authors explaining the patterns in the text, they are described in the end pages, making the book more useful in repeated readings. The emphasis on accepting emotions—but allowing them to move on by changing breathing patterns—is a positive one, told in simple language so that lap readers can repeat phrases along with the adults and practice the breathing techniques. While Bardy’s images show a diverse group of older children, the tone and practice seem best designed for younger readers—though some older kids would benefit from the method as well.
A helpful lesson about using breathing to direct emotions.Pub Date: Nov. 22, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-7782149-0-5
Page Count: 29
Publisher: Kookaburra Well-Being Ventures
Review Posted Online: Oct. 3, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
An uncomplicated opener, with some funny bits and a clear but not heavy agenda.
Hank Zipzer, poster boy for dyslexic middle graders everywhere, stars in a new prequel series highlighting second-grade trials and triumphs.
Hank’s hopes of playing Aqua Fly, a comic-book character, in the upcoming class play founder when, despite plenty of coaching and preparation, he freezes up during tryouts. He is not particularly comforted when his sympathetic teacher adds a nonspeaking role as a bookmark to the play just for him. Following the pattern laid down in his previous appearances as an older child, he gets plenty of help and support from understanding friends (including Ashley Wong, a new apartment-house neighbor). He even manages to turn lemons into lemonade with a quick bit of improv when Nick “the Tick” McKelty, the sneering classmate who took his preferred role, blanks on his lines during the performance. As the aforementioned bully not only chokes in the clutch and gets a demeaning nickname, but is fat, boastful and eats like a pig, the authors’ sensitivity is rather one-sided. Still, Hank has a winning way of bouncing back from adversity, and like the frequent black-and-white line-and-wash drawings, the typeface is designed with easy legibility in mind.
An uncomplicated opener, with some funny bits and a clear but not heavy agenda. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-448-48239-2
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2014
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