A clever and delightful snack-time story.
A popcorn kernel doesn’t pop but learns to have fun anyway in Kilpatrick’s picture book.
The Kernels are excited for Pop Day, when they leave their jars and head to the “MicroWave” to become popcorn. Otto can’t wait to do “the fun things he’d been dreaming about,” such as swim in butter and mingle with the Nuts. But although the other Kernels become white puffs, as planned, Otto remains unpopped. He tries to become a popped Kernel via various methods, but nothing works, and he returns to his jar. One day, Otto discovers a bowl of happy half-popped and unpopped Kernels. They invite Otto to join them, saying, “You can have fun whether you pop or not!” Otto enjoys spinning in butter, sliding down a wedge of cheese, and soaking in chocolate. The next Pop Day, Otto holds a sign that says, “HAPPY POP (OR NOT) DAY!!!” Otto’s adventure is a quirky and endearing one. Kilpatrick effectively teaches readers that, like the protagonist, they can excel even in circumstances that may not be exactly what they pictured. Blanco’s charming, full-color illustrations depict Otto and other expressive Kernels in a cheerful kitchen setting. Also included is a creative, detailed illustration of a “map” to MicroWave City, including locales such as Pistachio Way and Juice Box Café.
A clever and delightful snack-time story.Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-93-844722-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Genius Cat Books
Review Posted Online: July 8, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
An endearing protagonist runs the first, fast leg of Reynolds' promising relay.
Castle “Ghost” Cranshaw feels like he’s been running ever since his dad pulled that gun on him and his mom—and used it.
His dad’s been in jail three years now, but Ghost still feels the trauma, which is probably at the root of the many “altercations” he gets into at middle school. When he inserts himself into a practice for a local elite track team, the Defenders, he’s fast enough that the hard-as-nails coach decides to put him on the team. Ghost is surprised to find himself caring enough about being on the team that he curbs his behavior to avoid “altercations.” But Ma doesn’t have money to spare on things like fancy running shoes, so Ghost shoplifts a pair that make his feet feel impossibly light—and his conscience correspondingly heavy. Ghost’s narration is candid and colloquial, reminiscent of such original voices as Bud Caldwell and Joey Pigza; his level of self-understanding is both believably childlike and disarming in its perception. He is self-focused enough that secondary characters initially feel one-dimensional, Coach in particular, but as he gets to know them better, so do readers, in a way that unfolds naturally and pleasingly. His three fellow “newbies” on the Defenders await their turns to star in subsequent series outings. Characters are black by default; those few white people in Ghost’s world are described as such.
An endearing protagonist runs the first, fast leg of Reynolds' promising relay. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-5015-7
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Caitlyn Dlouhy/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
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