Like a sari-sari store, brimming with joy and heart.
A young girl of Filipina descent and her grandmother make quite the entrepreneurial team.
Nora spends her summers with her Lola, who owns a sari-sari store, a convenience store ubiquitous in the Philippines. This year, Nora is proud that she’s old enough to help out at the shop, located on a lively city street. She dusts, refills, and sorts, but her favorite thing to do is measure out rice, beans, and other orders for customers. Shelves of condiments and treats are brought to life in a warm palette. The gentle, spare narrative reveals a sudden dearth of customers when a heat wave hits the area. The softly textured illustrations show Nora and her Lola quietly trading worried looks. Lola says, “Let’s get some fresh air, my apo.” While the two rest under the shade of their mango tree, heavy with fruit, Nora has the idea to make and sell ice candy. Readers see delectable scenes of the duo mixing pieces of mango and condensed milk, then freezing it in long tubes. The homemade ice candy proves to be popular with locals, who flock back to the store for more. This sweet summer tale has Tagalog words interspersed throughout the dialogue, mostly terms of endearment that reflect the cozy relationships with family and the community. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Like a sari-sari store, brimming with joy and heart. (recipe for ice candy) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 11, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-5362-2614-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2023
This multigenerational snuggle will encourage the sharing of old memories and the creation of new ones.
Hill and Bobbiesi send a humungous hug from grandmothers to their granddaughters everywhere.
Delicate cartoon art adds details to the rhyming text showing multigenerational commonalities. “You and I are alike in such wonderful ways. / You will see more and more as you grow” (as grandmother and granddaughter enjoy the backyard together); “I wobbled uncertainly just as you did / whenever I tried something new” (as a toddler takes first steps); “And if a bad dream woke me up in the night, / I snuggled up with my lovey too” (grandmother kisses granddaughter, who clutches a plush narwhal). Grandmother-granddaughter pairs share everyday joys like eating ice cream, dancing “in the rain,” and making “up silly games.” Although some activities skew stereotypically feminine (baking, yoga), a grandmother helps with a quintessential volcano experiment (this pair presents black, adding valuable STEM representation), another cheers on a young wheelchair athlete (both present Asian), and a third, wearing a hijab, accompanies her brown-skinned granddaughter on a peace march, as it is “important to speak out for what you believe.” The message of unconditional love is clear throughout: “When you need me, I’ll be there to listen and care. / There is nothing that keeps us apart.” The finished book will include “stationery…for a special letter from Grandma to you!”
This multigenerational snuggle will encourage the sharing of old memories and the creation of new ones. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-7282-0623-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
A nicely inventive little morality “tail” for newly independent readers.
Two little rats decide to show the world how tough they are, with unpredictable results.
Louie and Ralphie Ratso want to be just like their single dad, Big Lou: tough! They know that “tough” means doing mean things to other animals, like stealing Chad Badgerton’s hat. Chad Badgerton is a big badger, so taking that hat from him proves that Louie and Ralphie are just as tough as they want to be. However, it turns out that Louie and Ralphie have just done a good deed instead of a bad one: Chad Badgerton had taken that hat from little Tiny Crawley, a mouse, so when Tiny reclaims it, they are celebrated for goodness rather than toughness. Sadly, every attempt Louie and Ralphie make at doing mean things somehow turns nice. What’s a little boy rat supposed to do to be tough? Plus, they worry about what their dad will say when he finds out how good they’ve been. But wait! Maybe their dad has some other ideas? LaReau keeps the action high and completely appropriate for readers embarking on chapter books. Each of the first six chapters features a new, failed attempt by Louie and Ralphie to be mean, and the final, seventh chapter resolves everything nicely. The humor springs from their foiled efforts and their reactions to their failures. Myers’ sprightly grayscale drawings capture action and characters and add humorous details, such as the Ratsos’ “unwelcome” mat.
A nicely inventive little morality “tail” for newly independent readers. (Fiction. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7636-7636-0
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
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