Hearing tell of a fountain in the big city billed “colored,” two country children decide that they have to see such a marvel in this 1960s-era tale. LuLu and her cousin Jelly hitch a ride with Jelly’s father, and while he runs an errand, they do indeed find a bubbler with a sign right outside City Hall. Before the children can take a taste, though, they witness a violent confrontation between sign-carrying marchers and police wielding fire hoses. Another officer with a snarling dog pushes them away: “That water ain’t for you. It’s for coloreds!” Using crosshatching and loosely brushed watercolors, Faulkner creates a period setting with roadside billboards (complete with speed traps) and old-style cars. He adds pointed details like the words “Justice” and “Truth” carved into the City Hall steps and creates an engaging pair of fresh-faced young folk whose open expressions change to fright and then exhaustion as they make their way safely back home. To spark discussion, and perhaps even fill in clueless adults, the author closes with a frank explanation in tiny type and a plea to question “all forms of intolerance.” It’s a salutary theme, handled here with terrific appeal. (Picture book. 6-9)
Pub Date: Jan. 8, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-4169-1629-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2007
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
Driven by the observation that most children lose their enthusiasm for making art as they get older, Reynolds prods a reluctant child into an eye-opening whirl of creativity. Asserting that she’s no artist, Vashti angrily responds to a teacher’s mild suggestion by dashing a small mark onto a big sheet of paper, then signing it. Seeing that sheet in a frame the next day, she mutters, “Hmmph! I can make a better dot than THAT!”—and proceeds to fill sheet after sheet with glorious arrays of splotches and blotches. In his own freely drawn pictures, Reynolds sets off Vashti’s colorful creations by hanging them, in the subsequent art show, in front of human figures defined by neutral-toned washes. And Vashti passes on her new-found insight at the end, inviting a young admirer who ruefully claims that he can’t draw a straight line to make a squiggle and sign it. This isn’t going to create interest where there is none, but it may speak to formerly artistic young readers who are selling their own abilities short. (Picture book. 6-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-7636-1961-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2003
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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