A fine addition to the word-book shelf, aside from that crocodile.
This multicultural take on a Busytown sort of place is rife with opportunities for I-spy reading and language acquisition.
The multigeneration, multiethnic Palabra family lives in a house that buzzes with activity. A helpful title-page illustration first introduces Mom, Dad, Pop Pop, Sam, May, Felix and Zanzibar the cat. There’s also an anthropomorphic crocodile named Crunchy—this is the only clear instance of fantasy to enter the little world, and while it might be intended for comic relief from page to page, it ends up undermining the earnest multicultural worldbuilding of the rest of the book. Multiracial families, same-sex couples, people using wheelchairs and others wearing hijab are just a few examples of the diversity of humanity that is included in the pictures, and Crunchy ends up seeming simply intrusive. Most of the story follows Pop Pop, Sam, Maya and, alas, Crunchy, as they go out into their town to visit the library, play in the park and have lunch. The brief narrative text introduces these activities, but the aim of the book is to invite perusal of spreads that are jam-packed with detailed, labeled pictures of people, places and things in the community. The boldly colored art adopts a naïve style with a folk-art sensibility that is accessible and engaging.
A fine addition to the word-book shelf, aside from that crocodile. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-78285-092-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Barefoot Books
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on...
Continuing from their acclaimed Those Shoes (2007), Boelts and Jones entwine conversations on money, motives, and morality.
This second collaboration between author and illustrator is set within an urban multicultural streetscape, where brown-skinned protagonist Ruben wishes for a bike like his friend Sergio’s. He wishes, but Ruben knows too well the pressure his family feels to prioritize the essentials. While Sergio buys a pack of football cards from Sonny’s Grocery, Ruben must buy the bread his mom wants. A familiar lady drops what Ruben believes to be a $1 bill, but picking it up, to his shock, he discovers $100! Is this Ruben’s chance to get himself the bike of his dreams? In a fateful twist, Ruben loses track of the C-note and is sent into a panic. After finally finding it nestled deep in a backpack pocket, he comes to a sense of moral clarity: “I remember how it was for me when that money that was hers—then mine—was gone.” When he returns the bill to her, the lady offers Ruben her blessing, leaving him with double-dipped emotions, “happy and mixed up, full and empty.” Readers will be pleased that there’s no reward for Ruben’s choice of integrity beyond the priceless love and warmth of a family’s care and pride.
Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on children. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6649-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
A solo debut for Wenzel showcasing both technical chops and a philosophical bent.
Wouldn’t the same housecat look very different to a dog and a mouse, a bee and a flea, a fox, a goldfish, or a skunk?
The differences are certainly vast in Wenzel’s often melodramatic scenes. Benign and strokable beneath the hand of a light-skinned child (visible only from the waist down), the brindled cat is transformed to an ugly, skinny slinker in a suspicious dog’s view. In a fox’s eyes it looks like delectably chubby prey but looms, a terrifying monster, over a cowering mouse. It seems a field of colored dots to a bee; jagged vibrations to an earthworm; a hairy thicket to a flea. “Yes,” runs the terse commentary’s refrain, “they all saw the cat.” Words in italics and in capital letters in nearly every line give said commentary a deliberate cadence and pacing: “The cat walked through the world, / with its whiskers, ears, and paws… // and the fish saw A CAT.” Along with inviting more reflective viewers to ruminate about perception and subjectivity, the cat’s perambulations offer elemental visual delights in the art’s extreme and sudden shifts in color, texture, and mood from one page or page turn to the next.
A solo debut for Wenzel showcasing both technical chops and a philosophical bent. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4521-5013-0
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
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