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THE BLUE VASE

Name: THE BLUE VASE
Author: Katarina Jovanovic
ISBN: 978-1-896580-91-3

by Katarina Jovanovic ; illustrated by Josée Bisaillon ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 1, 2015

Bullying is a hot topic, so this average effort joins an already crowded field.

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After she accidentally breaks what she believes to be a valuable vase at the home of her babysitter, Sonia, a recent immigrant from Moldova, is blackmailed by the woman’s granddaughter Marta, a classmate.

First Marta demands Sonia’s treasured eraser collection to ensure she’ll keep the secret of the broken vase, but the bully quickly ups the ante, requiring daily payoffs of whatever she can force Sonia to turn over. Sonia, unfortunately, keeps quiet about the situation, believing that otherwise her financially struggling parents will be forced to pay for the vase. Humiliated by the blackmail and other bullying, Sonia avoids school when she can and hides whenever she’s able. Under some eventual prodding from her teacher, she gradually reveals her plight, leading to a too-easy solution. Sonia’s narrative voice rarely rings true, too often sounding oddly authorial. Among illustrator Bisaillon’s frequent, somewhat surreal illustrations is one that is out of sync with the text and, more critically, fails to convey that Marta’s “face looked like a thundercloud.” Still, Sonia’s teacher’s wise, spot-on advice helps make up for the shortcomings of this brief, simplistic novel: “Some kids who are bullied feel so much despair that they want to disappear. They forget about all the people who love them and could help.”

Bullying is a hot topic, so this average effort joins an already crowded field. (Fiction. 7-11)

Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-896580-91-3

Page Count: 120

Publisher: Tradewind Books

Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2015

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
CARDBOARD CITY
by Katarina Jovanovic

- BOOK REVIEW
THE KING HAS GOAT EARS
by Katarina Jovanovic & illustrated by Philippe Béha

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LITTLE DAYMOND LEARNS TO EARN

by Daymond John ; illustrated by Nicole Miles ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 21, 2023

It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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TUCK EVERLASTING

by Natalie Babbitt ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1975

However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the...

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At a time when death has become an acceptable, even voguish subject in children's fiction, Natalie Babbitt comes through with a stylistic gem about living forever.

Protected Winnie, the ten-year-old heroine, is not immortal, but when she comes upon young Jesse Tuck drinking from a secret spring in her parents' woods, she finds herself involved with a family who, having innocently drunk the same water some 87 years earlier, haven't aged a moment since. Though the mood is delicate, there is no lack of action, with the Tucks (previously suspected of witchcraft) now pursued for kidnapping Winnie; Mae Tuck, the middle aged mother, striking and killing a stranger who is onto their secret and would sell the water; and Winnie taking Mae's place in prison so that the Tucks can get away before she is hanged from the neck until....? Though Babbitt makes the family a sad one, most of their reasons for discontent are circumstantial and there isn't a great deal of wisdom to be gleaned from their fate or Winnie's decision not to share it.

However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the first week in August when this takes place to "the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning") help to justify the extravagant early assertion that had the secret about to be revealed been known at the time of the action, the very earth "would have trembled on its axis like a beetle on a pin." (Fantasy. 9-11)