Big Red Lollipop
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A picture book by Rukhsana Khan
Illustrated by Sophie Blackall
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Published by Viking Children's Books
Spring 2010
40 pg, Hardcover
ISBN 9780670062874
Big Red Lollipop is also to be published in Indonesia by
Kidclassic, an imprint of Awareness Publication
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AR Quiz No. 134832 EN Fiction
IL: LG - BL: 2.2 - AR Pts:
0.5
AR Quiz Types: RP
Rating:
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A multicultural picture book about greed and temptation, set in North
America about two sisters who are invited to a birthday party.
- Selected as a Junior Library Guild Choice
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Featured in JLG Monthly April/May 2010 issue
"Khan (Silly Chicken) delivers another
astute and moving story, ostensibly dealing with sibling rivalry, but
actually about hard-won lessons emerging from clashes of identity and
assimilation. When Rubina receives her first invitation to a birthday
party, her mother, who readers are left to infer is an immigrant, is
first perplexed...then insistent that Rubina take her annoying younger
sister along...The result, is Khan's characteristically direct prose, is
devastating... Blackall's (Wombat Walkabout) subtly textured
ink portrait shows ever nuance of the girl's sense of social failure.
But Khan's remarkabe gift for balancing emotional honesty and empathy,
and her keen understanding of family dynamics, keeps defeatism from
swamping the book...It's an ending worthy of a novella, and once again
signals that Khan is one of the most original voices working in picture
books today."
-Publisher's Weekly Starred Review-
"Siblings everywhere will see themselves in this
story, even though it is rooted in the experience of an immigrant
family. Rubina is invited to a birthday party, and her little sister
Sana screams, “I wanna go too!” Their mother, Ami, insists that Sana be
taken with, despite Rubina’s vigorous protests, and the party turns out
as badly as Rubina worries it will… The story (and its lesson) comes to
life in Blackall’s spot-on illustrations, which focus on the family,
their expressions, and body language. …At its heart, though, this is an
honest, even moving, commentary on sisterly relationships, and the final
rapprochement is as sweet as the lollipop Sana offers Rubina."
-Booklist Starred Review-
"This sibling-rivalry story compares well with
Kevin Henkes's Sheila Rae's Peppermint Stick (HarperCollins
2001). When Rubina comes home with a birthday-party invitation, her
mother asks why people celebrate birthdays, as her culture does not, and
insists that Rubina take her little sister along despite the older
child's insistence that 'they don't do that here'. Sana is a brat par
excellence at the party and steals Rubina's candy...The stylistic
scattering of East Indian motifs from bedspread designs to clothing
communicate the cultural richness of the family's home life while the
aerial views, especially the rooms through which the siblings chase each
other, are priceless. The book is a thoughtful springboard for
discussion of different birthday traditions and gorgeous to the eye."
-School Library Journal-
"Dynamic visual design distinguishes this tale of
sibling conflict in an immigrant family…. Blackall’s peppy
watercolor-and-pencil illustrations hum with vibrancy and a wonderful
sense of children in constant motion. Every page shows fresh composition
and scale…Charming and spirited."
-Kirkus Reviews-