A reductive tale of aspiration achieved through assimilation.
In this tale translated from French, an Orthodox Jewish boy is fascinated by stars, planets—and the girl who shares his interest.
Every day Yakov takes his sisters to the park, where he reads about space. He fantasizes about going “to the Moon, to Mars, to Titan, or to Ganymede,” but his visions of Saturn are interrupted by his father’s nagging. Then he meets a Muslim girl named Aïcha. Instant soul mates, they daydream about the universe; in Goldstyn’s loose-lined illustrations, space looks magical, with deep blue washes. Both children are tan-skinned, and Aïcha wears a flowing hijab, while Yakov has side curls and sports a kippa. Yakov’s Jewish community, with signs in French and Yiddish, is populated with large, friendly families: chatty women wearing head coverings; men wearing fur hats and kippot. Yakov prefers Aïcha’s company. They share bagels, ice cream, and space facts—all the while ignoring community gossip about their friendship. Driven apart by their infuriated fathers, they meet again in adulthood as happy, secular astronomers. The protagonists ultimately reach their dreams by rejecting their communities and fitting into the dominant culture—a narrative choice that’s handled without nuance. Both fathers feel one-dimensional in their opposition to the friendship, and Yakov’s and Aïcha’s reasons for leaving their faiths aren’t fully unpacked. Whenever Aïcha’s hair is seen (she takes the hijab off as a child at one point, to Yakov’s delight, and stops wearing it as an adult), it’s depicted as a huge mass of rainbow-hued curls—a portrayal that exoticizes her and suggests that the headscarf is oppressive.
A reductive tale of aspiration achieved through assimilation. (Graphic fiction. 6-10)Pub Date: May 16, 2023
ISBN: 9781771649193
Page Count: 72
Publisher: Greystone Kids
Review Posted Online: Feb. 7, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
A kind child in a book for middle-grade readers? There’s no downside to that.
Beatrice Zinker is a kinder, gentler Judy Moody.
Beatrice doesn’t want to be fit in a box. Her first word was “WOW,” not “Mom.” She does her best thinking upside down and prefers to dress like a ninja. Like Judy Moody, she has patient parents and a somewhat annoying younger brother. (She also has a perfectly ordinary older sister.) Beatrice spends all summer planning a top-secret spy operation complete with secret codes and a secret language (pig Latin). But on the first day of third grade, her best friend, Lenny (short for Eleanor), shows up in a dress, with a new friend who wants to play veterinarian at recess. Beatrice, essentially a kind if somewhat quirky kid, struggles to see the upside of the situation and ends up with two friends instead of one. Line drawings on almost every spread add to the humor and make the book accessible to readers who might otherwise balk at its 160 pages. Thankfully, the rhymes in the text do not continue past the first chapter. Children will enjoy the frequent puns and Beatrice’s preference for climbing trees and hanging upside down. The story drifts dangerously close to pedantry when Beatrice asks for advice from a grandmotherly neighbor but is saved by likable characters and upside-down cake. Beatrice seems to be white; Lenny’s surname, Santos, suggests that she may be Latina; their school is a diverse one.
A kind child in a book for middle-grade readers? There’s no downside to that. (Fiction. 6-10)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4847-6738-2
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.
How to raise money for a coveted poster: put your friends to work!
John, founder of the FUBU fashion line and a Shark Tank venture capitalist, offers a self-referential blueprint for financial success. Having only half of the $10 he needs for a Minka J poster, Daymond forks over $1 to buy a plain T-shirt, paints a picture of the pop star on it, sells it for $5, and uses all of his cash to buy nine more shirts. Then he recruits three friends to decorate them with his design and help sell them for an unspecified amount (from a conveniently free and empty street-fair booth) until they’re gone. The enterprising entrepreneur reimburses himself for the shirts and splits the remaining proceeds, which leaves him with enough for that poster as well as a “brand-new business book,” while his friends express other fiscal strategies: saving their share, spending it all on new art supplies, or donating part and buying a (math) book with the rest. (In a closing summation, the author also suggests investing in stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrency.) Though Miles cranks up the visual energy in her sparsely detailed illustrations by incorporating bright colors and lots of greenbacks, the actual advice feels a bit vague. Daymond is Black; most of the cast are people of color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-56727-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
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