A loving example of how to navigate friendship challenges.
A much-anticipated reunion between two pals gets off to a rocky start.
The protagonist, whom readers may remember from Keyana Loves Her Family (2022), is excited: Her best friend, Nia, who moved away last year, is back in town. Keyana has big plans for Nia’s visit. She’s hoping for the “biggest, most spectacular sleepover ever,” which will include activities that the two have enjoyed together in the past, such as bike riding. Nia has her own plans, however: She’s bringing a scooter instead of a bicycle and has arrived with a new hairstyle and different interests. Unsurprisingly, the girls’ diverging opinions about how they should be spending their time together lead to frustration, confrontation, and a tearful confession about friendship fears. Fortunately, Keyana’s parents are there to help the duo work together to create new traditions and embrace the next stage of their friendship. Tarpley has a strong ear for dialogue—the children’s banter rings true and also captures the intense emotions that often characterize young friendships. Created digitally and finished with a handmade watercolor texture overlay, the inviting illustrations convey the excitement of the text. Pinkney Barlow’s attention to detail, such as the Black dolls that the girls play with, continues to make this series an authentic and positive representation of Black families and communities, as well as the joyous childhood traditions that exist within them.
A loving example of how to navigate friendship challenges. (Picture book. 4-9)Pub Date: Dec. 12, 2023
ISBN: 9780316056885
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2023
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
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
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