A sweet story with an ending that too many children will know.
This is the story of Yamo, a young Afghan villager who, in the absence of his soldier older brother, Haroon, gets to accompany his dad to the market to help him sell fruits.
It is harvest season in the village of Paghnam, and for the first time young Yamo will tag along with his father to the market in order to help sell the cherry harvest. The task is not easy, and Yamo grows more and more disappointed. He has nobody to share his chagrin with besides Pompa, his donkey, carrying all the cherries. The pair’s misfortune, however, is soon over: They have one customer…and then two…and then three…and soon Yamo has sold everything he had but for one last handful to share with his dad. The latter is proud of Yamo and decides to reward him with a surprise. All is well for Yamo, his family, and the village of Paghnam…until the war strikes, and it is all gone. Author/illustrator Kobayashi’s vivid and colorful illustrations, together with detailed descriptions, effectively convey the lively nature of the village, highlighting the market’s hustle and bustle while providing an appreciation of the deep love Yamo has for his dad, his absent brother, and even his donkey. The ending is abrupt, but details in both text (a man who lost his leg in the war) and illustrations (armed men with automatic weapons in some backgrounds) provide some foreshadowing without blunting the shock.
A sweet story with an ending that too many children will know. (Picture book. 5-10)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-940842-25-7
Page Count: 39
Publisher: Museyon
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This story covers the few days preceding the much-anticipated Midnight Zombie Walk, when Stink and company will take to the...
An all-zombie-all-the-time zombiefest, featuring a bunch of grade-school kids, including protagonist Stink and his happy comrades.
This story covers the few days preceding the much-anticipated Midnight Zombie Walk, when Stink and company will take to the streets in the time-honored stiff-armed, stiff-legged fashion. McDonald signals her intent on page one: “Stink and Webster were playing Attack of the Knitting Needle Zombies when Fred Zombie’s eye fell off and rolled across the floor.” The farce is as broad as the Atlantic, with enough spookiness just below the surface to provide the all-important shivers. Accompanied by Reynolds’ drawings—dozens of scene-setting gems with good, creepy living dead—McDonald shapes chapters around zombie motifs: making zombie costumes, eating zombie fare at school, reading zombie books each other to reach the one-million-minutes-of-reading challenge. When the zombie walk happens, it delivers solid zombie awfulness. McDonald’s feel-good tone is deeply encouraging for readers to get up and do this for themselves because it looks like so much darned fun, while the sub-message—that reading grows “strong hearts and minds,” as well as teeth and bones—is enough of a vital interest to the story line to be taken at face value.Pub Date: March 13, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5692-8
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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