An excellent addition for the community shelf, this minimizes didacticism while encompassing many aspects of the topic that...
The five friends from Ritchie’s mapping expedition (Follow That Map!, 2009) now explore their community, helping out along the way.
A local street fair to raise money for books and computers for the public library is the means by which Ritchie moves the five friends around the town, introducing community topics, helpers and locations. Though this “street fair” is less a street filled with food vendors, art, entertainment and schlock-hockers than a community open house, it will still hold kids’ interest and introduce them to some vital members of the neighborhood. In double-page spreads that address topics such as shopping locally (at yard sales), waiting in line, donating time and money, supporting local businesses, cleaning up and beautifying the neighborhood, and appreciating the elderly, the five friends explain, deliver tips and ask readers questions that will get them thinking about their own communities and how they can identify them, participate in them and make them stronger. An activity in the backmatter gives directions for turning a community drawing into a jigsaw puzzle. As a bonus, readers can seek and find each of the five friends in the busy spreads; though they lack the chaos of Waldo’s adventures, there are many details to amuse.
An excellent addition for the community shelf, this minimizes didacticism while encompassing many aspects of the topic that are missing from other entries. (glossary, table of contents) (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-77138-102-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2015
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions.
Ellis, known for her illustrations for Colin Meloy’s Wildwood series, here riffs on the concept of “home.”
Shifting among homes mundane and speculative, contemporary and not, Ellis begins and ends with views of her own home and a peek into her studio. She highlights palaces and mansions, but she also takes readers to animal homes and a certain famously folkloric shoe (whose iconic Old Woman manages a passel of multiethnic kids absorbed in daring games). One spread showcases “some folks” who “live on the road”; a band unloads its tour bus in front of a theater marquee. Ellis’ compelling ink and gouache paintings, in a palette of blue-grays, sepia and brick red, depict scenes ranging from mythical, underwater Atlantis to a distant moonscape. Another spread, depicting a garden and large building under connected, transparent domes, invites readers to wonder: “Who in the world lives here? / And why?” (Earth is seen as a distant blue marble.) Some of Ellis’ chosen depictions, oddly juxtaposed and stripped of any historical or cultural context due to the stylized design and spare text, become stereotypical. “Some homes are boats. / Some homes are wigwams.” A sailing ship’s crew seems poised to land near a trio of men clad in breechcloths—otherwise unidentified and unremarked upon.
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6529-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
An invitation to wonder, imagine and look at everything (humans included) in a new way.
A young boy sees things a little differently than others.
Noah can see patterns in the dust when it sparkles in the sunlight. And if he puts his nose to the ground, he can smell the “green tang of the ants in the grass.” His most favorite thing of all, however, is to read. Noah has endless curiosity about how and why things work. Books open the door to those answers. But there is one question the books do not explain. When the wind comes whistling by, where does it go? Noah decides to find out. In a chase that has a slight element of danger—wind, after all, is unpredictable—Noah runs down streets, across bridges, near a highway, until the wind lifts him off his feet. Cowman’s gusty wisps show each stream of air turning a different jewel tone, swirling all around. The ribbons gently bring Noah home, setting him down under the same thinking tree where he began. Did it really happen? Worthington’s sensitive exploration leaves readers with their own set of questions and perhaps gratitude for all types of perspective. An author’s note mentions children on the autism spectrum but widens to include all who feel a little different.
An invitation to wonder, imagine and look at everything (humans included) in a new way. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: April 14, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-60554-356-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Redleaf Lane
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2015
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