This pre–summer camp anxiety-soother has the advantage of an awesome setting.
A reluctant young summer camper expects to have a lousy time on the moon, where there are “no video games or oxygen or ANYTHING fun.”
Of course, in the end Lucas has the opposite experience—but not before some in-flight humiliation (“Zero-G makes me feel barfy”), having to sleep suspended from a wall hook because the bunk beds are all taken, getting lost on a nature hike, seeing the vacuum toilet, and like horrors. But then the arrival of equally unwilling Sam with a new group of campers results in an instant friendship that makes every part of camping, even the food, exponentially more awesome. Even having to suck “imitation hot dog substitute” through straws doesn’t keep anyone around the final, rocket-fueled campfire from agreeing in chorus that Moon Camp is “a gigantic ton of…FUN!!” In the end, back in his bedroom and bathed in moonlight streaming in through the window, Lucas dreamily looks forward to next summer. Both in the all-genders camp and back on Earth, grown-ups, Lucas, and the rest of the bubble-helmeted young campers in Gott’s cartoon illustrations display a subtle range of skin tones. Lucas himself is green at barfy moments but more usually has light brown skin; Sam presents Black. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-18-inch double-page spreads viewed at 77% of actual size.)
This pre–summer camp anxiety-soother has the advantage of an awesome setting. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: May 25, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-20267-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
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A close encounter of the best kind.
Left behind when the space bus departs, a child discovers that the moon isn’t as lifeless as it looks.
While the rest of the space-suited class follows the teacher like ducklings, one laggard carrying crayons and a sketchbook sits down to draw our home planet floating overhead, falls asleep, and wakes to see the bus zooming off. The bright yellow bus, the gaggle of playful field-trippers, and even the dull gray boulders strewn over the equally dull gray lunar surface have a rounded solidity suggestive of Plasticine models in Hare’s wordless but cinematic scenes…as do the rubbery, one-eyed, dull gray creatures (think: those stress-busting dolls with ears that pop out when squeezed) that emerge from the regolith. The mutual shock lasts but a moment before the lunarians eagerly grab the proffered crayons to brighten the bland gray setting with silly designs. The creatures dive into the dust when the bus swoops back down but pop up to exchange goodbye waves with the errant child, who turns out to be an olive-skinned kid with a mop of brown hair last seen drawing one of their new friends with the one crayon—gray, of course—left in the box. Body language is expressive enough in this debut outing to make a verbal narrative superfluous.
A close encounter of the best kind. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: May 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4253-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Margaret Ferguson/Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2019
An important reminder that, in the quest for friendship, who you truly are is more than enough.
Ivan, a young Black boy with a big, beautiful Afro, is such a skilled street skater that his friends have nicknamed him Epic.
When he and his family move to a new inner-city neighborhood, for the first time he finds himself without a clique to cheer him on or learn new skating stunts from. “You never landed a new trick on the first try,” his dad reminds him. “Keep an open mind, and you’ll meet new friends.” In an attempt to fit in with the neighborhood kids, Epic tries his hand at various other sports without success. Seeing his discouragement, his parents suggest that he skate down to the bodega for a treat. On his way there, Epic performs a scintillating series of skateboarding maneuvers, unaware that several kids of various ages are observing him with great interest. Only when he arrives at the bodega does he realize that he’s unwittingly found himself a new skating crew. Morrison’s upbeat narrative slides along smoothly, mirroring the energy and panache of its protagonist, and at times slips comfortably into African American Vernacular English. Skateboarding terminology is scattered liberally throughout the text, but readers unfamiliar with the jargon will feel the lack of a glossary. Morrison's illustrations—rendered in oil with their trademark graffiti-inspired, urban mannerist style—use interesting perspectives, silhouetting, and continuous narration to create a free-wheeling sense of Epic’s, well, epicness. Most characters are Black; a few illustrations include diverse representation.
An important reminder that, in the quest for friendship, who you truly are is more than enough. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: April 19, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5476-0592-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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