Review by New York Times Review
THE GREAT NOVELS for young readers all explore the same question: How do we respond to an unfair world? For the picture book crowd, unfairness and injustice can be tough topics for discussion, but as three new books show, even the very young understand disappointment. In Matt de la Peña and Christian Robinson's "Last Stop on Market Street," a young boy named CJ leaves church with his grandmother and takes a bus ride. CJ's disappointments form a believable litany: It's raining, and he's getting wet. They have to ride the bus because they don't have a car. He wants to be playing with his friends. He wishes he owned a device for listening to music. One by one, Nana addresses CJ's dissatisfactions, neither ignoring nor indulging him. "Trees get thirsty, too," she says. And: "Boy, what do we need a car for? We got a bus that breathes fire." She occasionally gives more information than feels natural; at other times she answers him tartly, making her sound very real. While Nana's responses might not always satisfy CJ, he begins to discern her ability to turn limitation into opportunity, and even beauty. Still, after an important scene in which he finds a way to emulate Nana, he reverts momentarily, expressing yet another letdown when they get off the bus in a neighborhood that looks "dirty." Nana once again redirects his attention. Clearly it's a lesson most of us have to keep relearning all our lives. Robinson's simple shapes, bright palette and flat perspective belie a sophisticated use of acrylic and collage. His cityscape is diverse and friendly, without neglecting the grittiness: litter, graffiti, security grilles and a soup kitchen - CJ and Nana's destination. With this final detail, "Last Stop on Market Street" provides a gentle twist, letting readers in on the secret Nana and CJ have known all along: They're on the way to help others who have even less. But it's also the warmth of their intergenerational relationship that will make this book so satisfying, for both young readers and the adults sharing it with them. "Juna's Jar," written by Jane Bahk and illustrated by Felicia Hoshino, depicts a single disappointment big enough to be heartbreaking: Little Juna's friend Hector moves away suddenly, and she is denied even a chance to say goodbye. The two friends loved collecting things to keep in a kimchi jar that Juna salvaged after her family emptied the contents. The jar serves as a conduit for Juna's attempts to find Hector in her imagination and her dreams. Her brother, Minho, buys her a fish to keep in the jar. She "put on a diving mask and fins and dove into the water. . . . 'Can you help me find my friend Hector?' Juna asked her fish." The magic realism is underscored when, overnight, the fish grows too big for the jar. Subsequently Minho helps Juna put a seed and then a cricket into the jar, both of which take her on similar journeys to search for Hector. (Minho plays an important role in the story, though the lack of response from Juna to his kindness makes him a less dimensional character than he might have been.) Juna's eventual reunion with Hector occurs only in her dreams, realistically wistful rather than joyous. And while the ending, with its suggestion of a new friend for Juna, may be predictable for adult readers, young children will probably find it pleasing. In Hoshino's lyrical and delicately detailed watercolor illustrations, Juna is adorable, her facial expressions matching the honest emotion of the text. The role played by the book's title object is compelling as well, and you might want to prepare for a first reading to a child by having ajar of similar size and shape on hand. Both Juna and CJ hark back to Peter in Ezra Jack Keats's "The Snowy Day," in that their ethnicity is part of their identity without being the story's central issue (CJ is African-American, Juna is Korean-American). More than 50 years after Keats's book, such characters remain alarmingly rare in children's literature, even though the argument that books featuring nonwhite characters don't sell well has been thoroughly trounced by savvy marketing in other entertainment realms (think of Dora the Explorer, or Doc McStuffins). It is bewildering that so many publishers are taking so long to catch on. If Juna and CJ reside within more or less traditional picture book worlds, another disappointed child, the unnamed boy protagonist in David Mackintosh's "Lucky," lives in a postmodern one. Text is used as a design element - stacked, layered, squeezed, slanted. The large-headed, spindly-legged children proceed through a landscape of sketches, photographs, postcards, blocks of color and collage, with enough logic and white space to keep things from feeling too frantic. "Lucky" achieves a synchronicity between text and illustration that rarely occurs unless both are created by the same person. When the boy's mother announces in the morning that there will be a surprise for dinner, he and his brother, Leo, spend the day considering and rejecting possibilities. Leo begins by guessing that it might be curly fries. From there things escalate, to great comic effect. A new bike? A new car? "MAYBE WE'RE GETTING A SWIMMING POOL in the backyard." In each case, hope is quashed by reason: "But we live in a high apartment and don't have a backyard. So that can't be it." Throughout the school day, the boys continue to speculate, finally concluding that the family must have won a two-week vacation in Hawaii. Dazzled, the boy tells a classmate. The news disseminates at school and even reaches the principal, who is suitably impressed. Young readers will have no trouble getting in on the joke, and the book's siblings are the only ones who will be shocked to learn that, alas, they are not destined for Hawaii. Not only is the boy disappointed, he also feels like a fool - complex emotions captured neatly with a few lines of text and a sketch of his face that barely makes it onto the page. So why is he lucky? Maybe it's because he has a brother who is also his best friend. And in a true-to-life ending, even that blessing is not totally unalloyed: They still have to share a room. Picture books like these three lead by example rather than by preaching, using story to help prepare young readers for the more complex novels that await them - and for a world sorely in need of those who can respond to disappointment with grace. Maybe Leo IS right: We ARE going to Hawaii for two weeks! LINDA SUE PARK is the author of several picture books and novels for young readers, including "A Long Walk to Water." She serves on the advisory board of We Need Diverse Books.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [January 18, 2015]
Review by Booklist Review
A nameless young boy and his younger brother Leo are told by their mother at breakfast that they are having a surprise at dinner that night. This teaser sets the boys to thinking of a wide range of possible treats and gifts, which over the course of the day snowball into a two-week all-expenses paid trip to Hawaii won through a radio competition. As news spreads across the school, the boys' windfall becomes the students' windfall; 10 minutes of extra recess is awarded to all to celebrate. At the end of the day, the boys dash home to pack, where Surprise! they discover a surprise a tad bit less impressive. Ultimately, the impact of the surprise is twofold: the boys had the fun of anticipating their surprise all day, and then, when all is said and done, they realize how lucky they are. The artwork, reminiscent of John Burningham's, combines collage, pencil, and crayon and is as frenetic and free-flowing as the boys' whirring imaginations. At turns exuberant, sweet, and humorous, this is a delightful surprise.--Dean, Kara Copyright 2014 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Mom announces therell be a surprise at dinner, and the narrator and his brother, Leo, eventually decide it can mean only one thing: their family has won a trip to Hawaii for two weeks: all expenses paid! The brothers set the school grapevine buzzing and even inspire the principal to give everyone 10 minutes of free time because this is the first time in history that anyone from our school has ever won a vacation. Then Mom enthusiastically reveals, as only mothers can, that the big surprise is... takeout pizza. Crushed and embarrassed, the narrator slowly realizes that hes in a pretty lucky family after all-a revelation handled with the subtlety and sweetness thats become Mackintoshs signature. As befits a story about magical thinking, Mackintosh (Standing in for Lincoln Green) amplifies his sketchbook-style drawings with a visually extravagant melange of comic book framings, exaggerated typography that sometimes tips a hat to concrete poetry, and collage (which includes kitschy Hawaiiana to accompany Leos rhapsodic tribute to island life). Its a story that leaves its readers feeling fortunate as well. Ages 4-8. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-Two brothers jump to conclusions when their mother announces that they will have a surprise at dinner. Could it be a new bike? Tickets to a show? A swimming pool in their yard or an elevator for their high-rise building? Or maybe it's a two-week vacation in Hawaii that their parents won in a contest. Convinced that it's the latter, they tell everyone at school, and the principal rewards their good fortune by giving all the students 10 minutes of free time. Rushing home after school, the narrator is deflated when Mom tells him that the surprise is pizza for dinner. But with a little creativity, plus a pineapple and coconuts, the family enjoys a make-believe Hawaiian meal.Mackintosh's animated cartoon illustrations are rendered in pencil, ink, and watercolor, with some mixed-media collage. The offbeat pictures illustrate the boys' wild imaginings with a mishmash of crazy angles, detailed scribbles, and bizarre inserts that children will want to examine up close. Lettering in various sizes and placements adds a quirky dimension and kinetic energy to the story. Fans of Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith's frenetic books will appreciate this entertaining tale.-Martha Simpson, Stratford Library Association, CT (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Two boys get carried away when their mom tells them they will have a surprise at dinner. Little brother Leo thinks it's curly fries, but the young narrator starts thinkingand that's how they get into trouble! They brainstorm a list of ever bigger and better possibilities (a bike! a new car! a swimming pool!), and finally, with visions of grass skirts and volcanoes in their heads, they conclude it must be an all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii. Both voice and reasoning are hysterically, authentically childlike. Dynamic, rapid-fire collage-and-pencil illustrations capture the zany escalation. The text increases in size, replicating their ever bolder assertions. Excited, they tell everyone at school, where even the staff celebrates by giving the students an extra 10-minute break. But when they get home, the siblings discover a very different surprise awaits them, leaving the narrator feeling rather sick until contagiously enthusiastic Leo cheers him up. How lucky can a kid get? This is a quirky, spot-on snapshot of family life, perfect for family sharing and repeated readings. And children will love examining the whimsical, surprisingly delightful details in the drawings. A winner. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
