Bling Blaine Throw glitter, not shade

K-Gr 2--An awe-inspiring picture book with a shiny message: Glitter is not just for girls. Blaine, with black hair, brown skin, and huge eyes to match his gigantic gestures, enjoys being expressive by using sparkle and glitter on anything he wears. He adorns his backpack with sequins, he bedazzles his sneakers, and when he visits the school library he creates "glossy stickers." He is known as the boy who adores his dazzle and sparkle. But not everybody is comfortable with Blaine and his sequins; other students began to shout at him that such things are for girls only, and a boy calls Blaine a sissy. Blaine stops using sequins and glitter, and the days are drab. What happens next is a show of solidarity: Sara and all Blaine's friends start wearing sequins and bedazzling their school uniforms. Blaine gets his bling back, but feels sparkly on the inside, too.This socially conscious book works as a simple tale of acceptance, but also lightly touches on bullying and herd mentality. Readers will rejoice that the children took matters into their own hands, while also enjoying Rizzo's colorful scenes of a diverse population. VERDICT. Young readers will find themselves in the pages of this great addition to public and school library collections.--Annmarie Braithwaite, New York P.L., New York City

Sparkles are not gender specific. Say hello to Blaine, a brown-skinned boy who loves things that sparkle. Blaine's motto is "throw glitter, not shade!" and he embodies it by accessorizing everything from his hat to his backpack in shimmery sparkles. For the most part, Blaine's classmates, a diverse bunch, embrace the title character's dazzling accessories and help explain his passion to unfamiliar people by relating it to similar enthusiasms in their own lives. When the haters' words eventually get to Blaine and bullying starts, the sparkles are abandoned, and Blaine becomes a shadow of his former glitzy self. Blaine's friends notice the change and fix the problem by wearing their own scintillating accessories and engaging in (implied) in-depth conversations with the haters. The intentions are great, but the story itself creaks, treating Blaine like a plot device and not a real character. His only proactive stance throughout is to offer a sparkly present to one of his detractors as a peace offering, a one-sided gesture, as the kid never apologizes. The bland cartoon artwork does little to enhance the story, and while the diversity of characters is welcome, the use of slits to represent the closed eyes of an Asian student (as compared to every other character's, which resemble u's when closed) disappoints. The backmatter introduces readers to the term "ally," but the subsequent best-practices advice does little to further the conversation. Costume jewelry at best. (Picture book. 6-10) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.