Sticks and Stones

September 1, 2020
Veteran picture-book creator Polacco tells another story from her childhood that celebrates the importance of staying true to one's own interests and values. After years of spending summers with her father and grandmother, narrator Trisha is excited to be spending the school year in Michigan with them. Unexpectedly abandoned by her summertime friends, Trisha quickly connects with fellow outsiders Thom and Ravanne, who may be familiar to readers from Polacco's The Junkyard Wonders (2010). Throughout the school year, the three enjoy activities together and do their best to avoid school bully Billy. While a physical confrontation between Thom (aka "Sissy Boy") and Billy does come, so does an opportunity for Thom to defy convention and share his talent with the community. Loosely sketched watercolor illustrations place the story in the middle of the last century, with somewhat old-fashioned clothing and an apparently all-White community. Trisha and her classmates appear to be what today would be called middle schoolers; a reference to something Trisha and her mom did when she was "only eight" suggests that several years have passed since that time. As usual, the lengthy first-person narrative is cozily conversational but includes some challenging vocabulary (textiles, lackeys, foretold). The author's note provides a brief update about her friends' careers and encourages readers to embrace their own differences. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-18-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.) Deliberately inspirational and tinged with nostalgia, this will please fans but may strike others as overly idealistic. (Picture book. 7-10)

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October 1, 2020

K-Gr 4-An awkward and overly complicated school reminiscence set in wintry, long-ago Michigan takes on gender bullying at an all-white school. Trisha (Polacco, as a girl) is befriended by Thom, who is called "Sissy Boy" by their classmate, Billy. Trisha likes Thom and finds they share interests including art and ballet. Thom is terrible at sports but he is imaginative and inspires Trish to think creatively as well. Over Christmas, Thom's mother takes them to see The Nutcracker and Trish sees Thom transported by the visions onstage. Thom goes on to win acclaim in a performance of a dance from Swan Lake, and much later, he enrolls in the New York City Ballet. The dense pages of story include a third friend, shy and artistic Ravanne, who, like Thom and Polacco, marches to the beat of a different drummer. And while the tale has a great message about bullying, and that the ultimate way to persevere and transcend detractors is to be one's best self, that gets oversimplified in the truncations and telescoping of the plot points. VERDICT A well-intentioned tale full of expressive scenes, this is not Polacco's strongest piece; though it may be her most heartfelt.-Joan Kindig, James Madison Univ., Harrisonburg, VA

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November 2, 2020
Polacco (Holes in the Sky), again writing autobiographically about her youth, pays homage to a schoolmate named Thom, a gawky white boy who sports horn-rimmed glasses. After Trisha arrives at her new school in Michigan with a pink face rash, her summer pals abandon her for other friends. Thom sees her to art class, where she meets Ravanne, a girl who’s interested in textile design. Then the school bully, Billy, interrupts: “Well, looky here, Sissy boy! And who’s the cootie with him?” Billy never misses an opportunity to take a jab at Thom, and Trisha finds her voice defending him: “At least he isn’t an overstuffed bully like you!” Thom, for his part, shows remarkable poise; when he receives only two valentines in the class valentine exchange, he grins: “What?... No valentine from Billy?” Where does Thom disappear on weekday afternoons? The school talent show reveals his secret: he’s a ballet dancer, and he’s marvelously talented. Polacco’s pencil and wash drawings capture the full range of expressions on the children’s faces, from laughter to outrage to wonder. With chapter book–level depth, she follows a supportive trio of friends to a gratifying conclusion. Ages 4–8.