Angus All Aglow

July 15, 2018
Find the sparkle in your life.Angus loves all things shiny, sparkly, and attention-grabbing. This isn't limited to his apparel; he loves anything that has some extra razzle-dazzle: jewels, nature, and words. To Angus, sparkle is akin to an extra burst for the senses. Angus' "sapphire-studded scissors sizzle," and the stars above "crackle like a campfire." Angus' favorite bit of bling is his grandmother's necklace--five strands of multicolored glass beads that seem to pop. When she gives him the necklace, Angus wants to show it off to his friends at school. Undeterred by his family's mild protests, Angus wears the necklace and is immediately mocked. A kind classmate named Melody eventually helps Angus rediscover the beauty of bling by reconstructing the necklace into two friendship bracelets. Smith's story accomplishes some great things: It introduces readers to new reach-word vocabulary, and Angus' love of sparkle isn't tied directly to sexuality or gender identity, allowing it to reach the heterosexual cis boys who love a little glitz and glimmer. The message stumbles slightly because Angus' emotional well-being lives and dies by the opinions of others; he never finds the strength to trust his own beliefs. Carter's cartoonish illustrations, a combination of watercolor, gouache, and pencil, are muted, and the vibrancy described in the story is not relayed via the images. They depict Angus as biracial (his dad has brown skin, and his mom is white) and Melody as black.Not a must-have. (Picture book. 6-10)

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September 15, 2018
Preschool-G Angus loves sparkly things?rainbow sequins, nighttime stars, his sapphire-studded scissors?and sparkly words, like lustrous, scintillating, and glistening. These things sizzle and buzz and whiz-BANG-pop around him, making him feel fuzzy and warm. When he wears his grandma's sparkly necklace to school, his classmates tease him until it?and everything else sparkly?loses its color and sound. But fortunately, all it takes is one friend who hears and sees the world like Angus to bring the zizzle-zazzle-zap right back. The illustrations are sweet and simple, and Carter uses her color palette effectively to support the text, showing Angus' loss of confidence through muted blue-grays, and its return in a burst of sumptuous red across a single spread. Angus' synesthesia is cleverly represented with the delightful sound words popping colorfully out of the regular text. Most important, the tale is one of inclusion, acceptance, diversity, friendship, and kindness, but all are subtly included and take a back seat to the story. This book's sweet message leaves you glowing from the inside out, just like Angus.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)