When her family purchases a young chicken, Jamela names her Christmas and enthusiastically helps to fatten her up for her namesake holiday. She gives her food and water, talks to her, and gives her gifts. Mama worries about the moment when Jamela will realize that the chicken must be cooked. She is right to worry. Jamela runs away with the chicken, only to lose it in a crowd. A mad chase ensues as Mama, Jamela, and Mrs. Zibi (the would-be chicken killer) attempt to recapture Christmas as she runs through the market, in and out of a taxi, and into Miss Style Hairdressers. Of course, Christmas is saved, because “You can’t eat friends.” Daly (Bravo, Zan Angelo!, 1998, etc.) seamlessly interweaves elements of the culture and language of a modern South African township in both the lively text and delightful, detailed illustrations. Jamela plays with African carved figures and animals, as well as a Mickey Mouse toy. The school nativity play includes Basuto hats, Madiba shirts, marimbas, and the baby carried on its mama’s back. The market is full of color and movement. A warm, close-knit family and community lovingly nurture Jamela. All the characters, major and minor, are drawn as distinct individuals with expressive faces and body language. The entire work is carefully crafted, from the chickens running across the endpapers to the glossary that clarifies word origins and meanings. But it is Jamela who is the star. She is mischievous, boisterous, loving, generous, worried, determined, even defiant, and it’s all there in her face. This little girl is a charmer and so is her story. (Picture book. 3-8)
Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2001
ISBN: 0-374-35602-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2001
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
Only for dedicated fans of the series.
When a kid gets the part of the ninja master in the school play, it finally seems to be the right time to tackle the closet monster.
“I spot my monster right away. / He’s practicing his ROAR. / He almost scares me half to death, / but I won’t be scared anymore!” The monster is a large, fluffy poison-green beast with blue hands and feet and face and a fluffy blue-and-green–striped tail. The kid employs a “bag of tricks” to try to catch the monster: in it are a giant wind-up shark, two cans of silly string, and an elaborate cage-and-robot trap. This last works, but with an unexpected result: the monster looks sad. Turns out he was only scaring the boy to wake him up so they could be friends. The monster greets the boy in the usual monster way: he “rips a massive FART!!” that smells like strawberries and lime, and then they go to the monster’s house to meet his parents and play. The final two spreads show the duo getting ready for bed, which is a rather anticlimactic end to what has otherwise been a rambunctious tale. Elkerton’s bright illustrations have a TV-cartoon aesthetic, and his playful beast is never scary. The narrator is depicted with black eyes and hair and pale skin. Wallace’s limping verses are uninspired at best, and the scansion and meter are frequently off.
Only for dedicated fans of the series. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-4894-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
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