A good choice for budding philosophers.
A first step into the world of ontology, picture-book style!
Two holes, Hamish and Hermione, try to find a new home when their Swiss cheese is eaten by mice. With nowhere now to live and wishing to be “useful,” they leave the “dreary kitchen” of the royal palace to search for other meaningful locales. The king does not appreciate Hamish’s new location on his sock. Hermione chooses the queen’s knickers, and she is equally distressed. Remember, they are holes. Their choices spiral into a comedy of errors as bike tires deflate, boats sink, and balloons burst. “Everyone thinks we are a nuisance,” says a frustrated yet confident Hamish. “But holes can be useful too.” Ingman’s hand-painted blotches of color show a surprising array of emotions with just two eyes and a mouth each, an occasional blushing cheek, and stick arms and legs. These two characters (portrayed as corporeal even though holes are defined as “nothing”) change color to match their surroundings, like chameleons. They are most frequently portrayed running away, Gingerbread Man–style, from surprised royalty and castle staff, all white. Will they ever find a place to call home? What objects need holes? Bright’s text deftly captures the quest for and fulfillment of true usefulness while allowing for more complex subtleties to percolate.
A good choice for budding philosophers. (Picture book. 4-9)Pub Date: April 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5124-3950-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Andersen Press USA
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
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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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