The evolution of a New York City corner store reflects 20th-century American history.
From Ellis Island immigration through women’s suffrage to the civil rights movement, Wittenstein endeavors “to better understand the past by looking at just one building.” The titular Oscar, a Polish immigrant, opens a barbershop in 1899. Over the next 100 years, the businesses reflect the times: a Great Depression soup kitchen, a World War II Army recruitment center, and so on. The Howdeshells’ illustrations, Rockwellian in feel, are beautifully rendered and offer many details to examine—and historical cues for adult readers to point out. While Oscar appears only briefly at the beginning, the title is apt, as Wittenstein’s device means his synopsis of American history is told primarily from a White, European lens. Unfortunately, aside from one Puerto Rican shop proprietor, Moises, who comes along fairly late in the narrative, children of color will mostly see reflections of themselves as side characters. Their inclusion makes for diverse scenes but ultimately conveys idealistic portraits of integrated American life even in the eras prior to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. For a more diverse slant on New York City immigration, consider Dave Eggers and Shawn Harris’ Her Right Foot (2017). (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-17-inch double-page spreads viewed at 59.3% of actual size.)
Celebrates a disappointingly exclusive dream. (author's note) (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-525-70769-1
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Rodale Kids
Review Posted Online: July 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2020
Categories: CHILDREN'S HISTORICAL FICTION | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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A color-themed vision of what school should be like.
In what amounts to a rehash of The World Needs More Purple People (2020), Bell and Hart address adult as well as young readers to explain what “curious and kind you” can do to make school, or for that matter the universe, a better place. Again culminating in the vague but familiar “JUST. BE. YOU!” the program remains much the same—including asking questions both “universe-sized” (“Could you make a burrito larger than a garbage truck?”) and “smaller, people-sized” (i.e., personal), working hard to learn and make things, offering praise and encouragement, speaking up and out, laughing together, and listening to others. In the illustrations, light-skinned, blond-haired narrator Penny poses amid a busy, open-mouthed, diverse cast that includes a child wearing a hijab and one who uses a wheelchair. Wiseman opts to show fewer grown-ups here, but the children are the same as in the earlier book, and a scene showing two figures blowing chocolate milk out of their noses essentially recycles a visual joke from the previous outing. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
The message is worthy, but this phoned-in follow-up doesn’t add anything significant. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: June 21, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-43490-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2022
Categories: CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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A monohued tally of positive character traits.
Purple is a “magic color,” affirm the authors (both actors, though Hart’s name recognition is nowhere near the level of Bell’s), and “purple people” are the sort who ask questions, laugh wholeheartedly, work hard, freely voice feelings and opinions, help those who might “lose” their own voices in the face of unkindness, and, in sum, can “JUST BE (the real) YOU.” Unlike the obsessive protagonist of Victoria Kann’s Pinkalicious franchise, being a purple person has “nothing to do with what you look like”—a point that Wiseman underscores with scenes of exuberantly posed cartoon figures (including versions of the authors) in casual North American attire but sporting a wide range of ages, skin hues, and body types. A crowded playground at the close (no social distancing here) displays all this wholesome behavior in action. Plenty of purple highlights, plus a plethora of broad smiles and wide-open mouths, crank up the visual energy—and if the earnest overall tone doesn’t snag the attention of young audiences, a grossly literal view of the young narrator and a grandparent “snot-out-our-nose laughing” should do the trick. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10.4-by-20.6-inch double-page spreads viewed at 22.2% of actual size.)
The buoyant uplift seems a bit pre-packaged but spot-on nonetheless. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-12196-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2020
Categories: CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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