A moving book about kindness, friendship, and hope in the context of conflict and displacement.
Following The Most Beautiful Village in the World (2018) and The Circus Comes to the Village (2019), Kobayashi offers the tale of a boy’s return to his homeland after it has been through war.
After leaving his small village in Afghanistan, young Mirado travels the world with the circus, playing the flute that his father gave him. He hears on the radio that the war, which his father joined and hasn’t returned from yet, has ended. Mirado sets his mind on going back to Paghman, his village. After saying goodbye to his circus colleagues, he embarks eastward on a long and rough trip. When neither train, bus, nor wagon can get him further, he walks. Throughout the book, readers see him in several urban and rural spaces, some of which may look familiar. Kobayashi’s landscapes will frequently take their breath away. Mirado journeys across mountains and forests, against the wind and in the cold. Kind strangers help him along the way, including other refugees attempting to return home. He will find his Paghman in ruins but will also meet his best friend, Yamo, and together, they will imagine and plan for a brighter future. This suspenseful and beautifully illustrated story, originally published in Japan in 2003, covers a topic unfrequented in children’s literature about refugees and one that’s often romanticized in real life: that of the return.
A moving book about kindness, friendship, and hope in the context of conflict and displacement. (Picture book. 5-10)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-940842-45-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Museyon
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A powerful retrospective glimpse at a key event.
A vibrantly illustrated account of the Birmingham Children’s Crusade through the eyes of a young girl who volunteers to participate.
Morrison’s signature style depicts each black child throughout the book as a distinct individual; on the endpapers, children hold signs that collectively create a “Civil Rights and the Children’s Crusade” timeline, placing the events of the book in the context of the greater movement. When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. comes to speak at her church, a girl and her brother volunteer to march in their parents’ stead. The narrative succinctly explains why the Children’s Crusade was a necessary logistical move, one that children and parents made with careful consideration and despite fear. Lines of text (“Let the children march. / They will lead the way // The path may be long and / troubled, but I’m gonna walk on!”) are placed within the illustrations in bold swoops for emphasis. Morrison’s powerful use of perspective makes his beautiful oil paintings even more dynamic and conveys the intensity of the situations depicted, including the children’s being arrested, hosed, and jailed. The child crusaders, regardless of how badly they’re treated, never lose their dignity, which the art conveys flawlessly. While the children win the day, such details as the Confederate flag subtly connect the struggle to the current day.
A powerful retrospective glimpse at a key event. (timeline, afterword, artist’s statement, quote sources, bibliography) (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-544-70452-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
Warp back in time for a prehistoric spinoff adventure with Geronimo Stilton’s ancestor, Geronimo Stiltonoot, in Old Mouse City.
Readers will find Geronimo Stiltonoot a familiar character, outfitted differently from descendant Stilton yet still running a newspaper and having wild adventures. In this introduction to prehistoric mouse life, someone has stolen the most powerful and important artifact housed by the Old Mouse City Mouseum: the Stone of Fire. It’s up to Stiltonoot and his fellow sleuth and friend, Hercule Poirat, to uncover not only the theft, but a dangerous plot that jeopardizes all of Old Mouse City. As stand-ins for the rest of the Stilton cast, Stiltonoot has in common with Stilton a cousin named Trap, a sister named Thea and a nephew named Benjamin. The slapstick comedy and design, busy with type changes and color, will be familiar for Stilton readers. The world is fictionalized for comedic effect, featuring funny uses for dinosaurs and cheeky references to how far back in time they are, with only the occasional sidebar that presents facts. The story takes a bit long to get started, spending a lot of time reiterating the worldbuilding information laid out before the first chapter. But once it does start, it is an adventure Stilton readers will enjoy. Geronimo Stiltonoot has the right combination of familiarity and newness to satisfy Stilton fans. (Fiction. 6-10)
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-545-44774-4
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Nov. 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2012
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