Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 2--5--Best friends and cousins Alma and Del are excited that Alma's family has moved to be closer. Living together with their abuelita and extended family is going to be so much better than just visiting. The more Del tries to catch Alma up on all the things she needs to know about their neighborhood, the more Alma feels out of place and begins to miss her old lakeside house. When the girls find a pair of "magic" earrings at a stoop sale, the discovery tests their friendship for the first time. This series debut is a sweet tale about friendship, family, and being the new kid on the block. The chapters alternate between Alma's and Del's perspectives. The line-drawing illustrations throughout give a glimpse of the street where the girls live, the magic earrings, and some of the foods, like empanadas and gofio. VERDICT A good fit for larger collections. Put this book in the hands of kids who enjoy series like Annie Barrows's "Ivy and Bean" or Megan McDonald's "Judy Moody."--Kristin Williamson, Metropolitan Library System, Oklahoma
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Review by Horn Book Review
Alma is excited to be taking up residence with her parents on the fourth floor of 86-and-a-half Twenty-third Avenue, home of her abuelita (and her Curious Cousins Secondhand Shoppe); Almas best-friend-cousin Del; and other aunts, uncles, and cousins. As she is used to seeing family only on special occasions, though, the sudden shift in frequency leaves Alma feeling left out of [her] own family. Weekends are spent going to stoop sales in search of items to resell at the shop. A pair of earrings causes tension between the cousins (Del thinks theyre magically just for her and that they found her; Alma, annoyed, thinks magic doesnt belong to any one person) before a realistic reconciliation. Short chapters each contain several lively sketchlike illustrations; a two-page cutaway of the apartment building at the outset will have readers continually returning to study its details. This thoughtful first book in a projected series probes questions of what it means to belong to a family and how sensitive children perceive the subtle pressures of conformity. Julie Hakim Azzam July/August 2020 p.137(c) Copyright 2020. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Haydu introduces two young cousins in a new chapter-book series for young readers.Del (short for Delfina) and Alma are cousins, best friends, and, as of moments ago, neighbors on 23rd Avenue. Alma and her family have moved away from their old lakeside home to the brick walk-up apartment building where Alma's father's side of the family lives in the city. On the ground level is the Curious Cousins Secondhand Shoppe, and on the second, third, and fourth floors are Abuelita, Titi, cousins, and more of their Puerto Rican family. When Abuelita takes the girls to a stoop sale, Del finds dangling clip-on earrings and is promptly convinced that they are magical. After a couple flawless, magical days (readers might call them just lucky), Alma is fed up with Del's earrings and crushingly denies their magic. Convinced the earrings are causing them to fight, Alma decides to steal them and puts them out on the stoop for a passerby to take. Readers learn along the way that Alma feels "left out of" her own family, having lived apart from the rest of them for most of her life. They may well wonder why Alma's family has moved, but the story focuses on the conflict between the cousins. Told in alternating third-person with minimal Spanish interspersed, the actual plot lacks luster, and the focus on mundane details slows the book's pacing. Perhaps, with the scene now set, the series' next volume will pick up. Uribe's grayscale depictions are essential companions, depicting Del with dark skin and Alma as pale.Everyday magic fails to create a spark in this book. (Fiction. 6-9) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
