Weird, wonderful, and proof that journeying to places of uncertainty and unfamiliarity can feel extraordinarily exciting.
Welcome to the planet Gon Gon, where the Smon Smon “hangs its last ron ron next to its won won on a lon lon and floats away in a ton ton.”
Ruddy pen, ink, and watercolor illustrations help disoriented readers make sense of these words and this woodsy world, a place looming with what resembles knobby bark, nutshells, mushrooms, thistles, slender vines, and berries. Matryoshka-looking beings named Smon Smons and the even smaller Klon Klons live and work gathering fruit in this dusky, autumnal place. Cross-referencing words and pictures, readers puzzle out meanings with pleasure: ron ron = a fruit or vegetable; won won = a bed made of soft deciduous fiber; lon lon = a rope; ton ton = a concave vessel, studded and bumpy on the outside, smooth on the inside. Vocabulary builds with each page turn, and readers grow more comfortable with this punchy single-syllabic alien lexicon, one perfect for a disarming read-aloud. The Smon Smon remains sweetly elusive as it perambulates and cheerily gathers food. Rosy-cheeked, its arched brows and nose tip painted black, the Smon Smon extends its neck impressive lengths when needed. Its gender remains ambiguous throughout, even when the Smon Smon finally reaches its resting place and another who seems its mate. The Smon Smons smile inscrutably, delightfully difficult to discern or affix to familiar paradigms.
Weird, wonderful, and proof that journeying to places of uncertainty and unfamiliarity can feel extraordinarily exciting. (Picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: March 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-7358-4307-3
Page Count: 48
Publisher: NorthSouth
Review Posted Online: Dec. 2, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2018
A kind child in a book for middle-grade readers? There’s no downside to that.
Beatrice Zinker is a kinder, gentler Judy Moody.
Beatrice doesn’t want to be fit in a box. Her first word was “WOW,” not “Mom.” She does her best thinking upside down and prefers to dress like a ninja. Like Judy Moody, she has patient parents and a somewhat annoying younger brother. (She also has a perfectly ordinary older sister.) Beatrice spends all summer planning a top-secret spy operation complete with secret codes and a secret language (pig Latin). But on the first day of third grade, her best friend, Lenny (short for Eleanor), shows up in a dress, with a new friend who wants to play veterinarian at recess. Beatrice, essentially a kind if somewhat quirky kid, struggles to see the upside of the situation and ends up with two friends instead of one. Line drawings on almost every spread add to the humor and make the book accessible to readers who might otherwise balk at its 160 pages. Thankfully, the rhymes in the text do not continue past the first chapter. Children will enjoy the frequent puns and Beatrice’s preference for climbing trees and hanging upside down. The story drifts dangerously close to pedantry when Beatrice asks for advice from a grandmotherly neighbor but is saved by likable characters and upside-down cake. Beatrice seems to be white; Lenny’s surname, Santos, suggests that she may be Latina; their school is a diverse one.
A kind child in a book for middle-grade readers? There’s no downside to that. (Fiction. 6-10)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4847-6738-2
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
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
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