Mobin-Uddin and Jacobsen again explore a slice of the Muslim-American experience, focusing on the religious significance and customs during Ramadan (The Best Eid Ever, 2007). Leena’s friend’s birthday party falls on the first Friday of Ramadan. Although she is not required to fast like the adults in her family, Leena persuades her mother to allow her to both attend the party and abstain from food and drink. The hijab-clad girl resists temptations of lemonade and chocolate cake, diverting herself with activity, but succumbs to a nap toward party’s end. At home, as Leena and her family happily prepare to break their fast, the neighbors stop by with leftover birthday cake. Although message-driven, this is a compassionate family story that functions beautifully as both mirror for Muslim-American children and window for their non-Muslim friends. The author’s appealing, full-bleed pastels depict a sunny, middle-class community. A worthwhile addition to the still-too-sparse literature for children about Muslim-Americans. (author’s note) (Picture book. 6-9)
Pub Date: April 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-59078-604-8
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
In a snowbound Swiss village, Matti figures it’s a good day to make a gingerbread man. He and his mother mix a batch of gingerbread and tuck it in the oven, but Matti is too impatient to wait ten minutes without peeking. When he opens the door, out pops a gingerbread baby, taunting the familiar refrain, “Catch me if you can.” The brash imp races all over the village, teasing animals and tweaking the noses of the citizenry, until there is a fair crowd on his heels intent on giving him a drubbing. Always he remains just out of reach as he races over the winterscape, beautifully rendered with elegant countryside and architectural details by Brett. All the while, Matti is busy back home, building a gingerbread house to entice the nervy cookie to safe harbor. It works, too, and Matti is able to spirit the gingerbread baby away from the mob. The mischief-maker may be a brat, but the gingerbread cookie is also the agent of good cheer, and Brett allows that spirit to run free on these pages. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-399-23444-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A club-shaped pumpkin gets dissed by a customer, all the other pumpkins, even twisted apple trees, before the sight of a motley crop of hubbards, acorns and banana squash brings on a personal epiphany: “O my gosh / I’m a squash.” Endowed with a face and stick limbs, the gnarled narrator sits down at a Thanksgiving table with its new soulmates, then is last seen strolling down the lane hand in hand with a lumpy new friend. Written in doggerel—“A skeleton came for pumpkins / one bright and crispy day. / I asked if I could get a ride . . . / He laughed and said: No Way”—and illustrated in brightly colored paint-and-paper collage, this weak riff on the “Ugly Duckling” may not earn high marks for botanical accuracy (all pumpkins are squash), but it does feature plenty of visual flash. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-399-24267-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2005
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