Another winning addition—Lolo is indeed a star!
Bright-spirited Lolo is as curious, kind, and helpful as ever in this third installment in her eponymous series.
Lolo, who presents as Black, lives with her mama and doting grandmother—Gogo—in South Africa. In four episodic chapters, Lolo mixes up a treat for Mama in “Lolo’s Special Soup”; seeks a noisy monster in “Lolo’s Scary Night”; teaches Gogo about gardening in “Lolo’s Snail Garden”; and goes on a seemingly unending adventure with Gogo in “Lolo’s Holiday.” Readers will relate to Lolo’s earnest attempts to be helpful, her sad and fearful moments, and her excitement at being able to teach Gogo something she learned in school (which is racially integrated). When Mr. Speedy can only take them part of the way home after their holiday visit with Aunty Boni, Gogo sticks out her thumb to obtain a ride with a minibus full of choir members on their way to a church meeting. A fruit-and-vegetable cart drawn by a donkey concludes their eventful trip, which leaves Lolo “floppy-schloppy-tired” and happy to see Mama at the door. This final chapter presents adult readers, particularly teachers, with the opportunity to start conversations on how transportation can be different from country to country, imparting a cross-cultural exploration. Though not an #ownvoices book, this, like the others in the Lolo series, is drawn tenderly and told in a way that honors the characters and their culture.
Another winning addition—Lolo is indeed a star! (Fiction. 5-8)Pub Date: May 11, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-946395-51-1
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Catalyst Press
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
This multigenerational snuggle will encourage the sharing of old memories and the creation of new ones.
Hill and Bobbiesi send a humungous hug from grandmothers to their granddaughters everywhere.
Delicate cartoon art adds details to the rhyming text showing multigenerational commonalities. “You and I are alike in such wonderful ways. / You will see more and more as you grow” (as grandmother and granddaughter enjoy the backyard together); “I wobbled uncertainly just as you did / whenever I tried something new” (as a toddler takes first steps); “And if a bad dream woke me up in the night, / I snuggled up with my lovey too” (grandmother kisses granddaughter, who clutches a plush narwhal). Grandmother-granddaughter pairs share everyday joys like eating ice cream, dancing “in the rain,” and making “up silly games.” Although some activities skew stereotypically feminine (baking, yoga), a grandmother helps with a quintessential volcano experiment (this pair presents black, adding valuable STEM representation), another cheers on a young wheelchair athlete (both present Asian), and a third, wearing a hijab, accompanies her brown-skinned granddaughter on a peace march, as it is “important to speak out for what you believe.” The message of unconditional love is clear throughout: “When you need me, I’ll be there to listen and care. / There is nothing that keeps us apart.” The finished book will include “stationery…for a special letter from Grandma to you!”
This multigenerational snuggle will encourage the sharing of old memories and the creation of new ones. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-7282-0623-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
A retro-futuristic romp, literally and figuratively screwy.
Robo-parents Diode and Lugnut present daughter Cathode with a new little brother—who requires, unfortunately, some assembly.
Arriving in pieces from some mechanistic version of Ikea, little Flange turns out to be a cute but complicated tyke who immediately falls apart…and then rockets uncontrollably about the room after an overconfident uncle tinkers with his basic design. As a squad of helpline techies and bevies of neighbors bearing sludge cake and like treats roll in, the cluttered and increasingly crowded scene deteriorates into madcap chaos—until at last Cath, with help from Roomba-like robodog Sprocket, stages an intervention by whisking the hapless new arrival off to a backyard workshop for a proper assembly and software update. “You’re such a good big sister!” warbles her frazzled mom. Wiesner’s robots display his characteristic clean lines and even hues but endearingly look like vaguely anthropomorphic piles of random jet-engine parts and old vacuum cleaners loosely connected by joints of armored cable. They roll hither and thither through neatly squared-off panels and pages in infectiously comical dismay. Even the end’s domestic tranquility lasts only until Cathode spots the little box buried in the bigger one’s packing material: “TWINS!” (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-22-inch double-page spreads viewed at 52% of actual size.)
A retro-futuristic romp, literally and figuratively screwy. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-544-98731-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2020
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