Hot Day on Abbott Avenue

by Karen English, Javaka Steptoe (Illustrator)

Overview

It's the hottest, stickiest day of the summer. A fat-sun-in-the-sky day. An eating-ice-pops-on-the-porch day. And for Kishi and Renée, it's a best-friends-breakup day. Each girl sits on her own front porch, waiting for the other to apologize, even though they know they'll never speak to each other again, no matter how bored they get. But then the sounds of feet slapping the pavement and voices chanting double-dutch rhymes drift up the avenue, and neither one can resist going out in the street to play.

This lyrical friendship story, the first collaboration of two outstanding artists, pairs a rhythmic text with distinctive collage illustrations. Its subtle message about sharing and forgiveness will resonate with anyone who has ever experienced the ups and downs of being, and having, a best friend.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781328500069
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	06/04/2019
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	25,838
Product dimensions:	7.90(w) x 7.80(h) x 0.60(d)
Lexile:	AD580L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Karen English is a Coretta Scott King Honor Award-winner and the author of It All Comes Down to This, a Kirkus Prize Finalist, as well as the Nikki and Deja and The Carver Chronicles series. Her novels have been praised for their accessible writing, authentic characters, and satisfying storylines. She is a former elementary school teacher and lives in Los Angeles, California.

Javaka Steptoe is a Caldecott Medalist, Coretta Scott King Award winner, and New York Times best-selling picture book creator. He has illustrated several books for children, including Jimi: Sounds Like a Rainbow, A Story of the Young Jimi Hendrix by Gary Golio, A Pocketful of Poems by Nikki Grimes, and Radiant Child, which he also wrote. He lives in Brooklyn, New York. Visit him online at javaka.com and on Twitter @javaka_steptoe.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"English has childhood spats down pat...both original and emotionally effective...full of movement and energy and joy...'So good!' " Kirkus Reviews

"audiences will sympathize with the falling-out-with-a-friend blues even as they long for their own blue popsicles" BULLETIN OF THE CENTER FOR CHILDREN'S BOOKS The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"high-energy collage illustrations...a satisfying summer story about community and friendship." THE HORN BOOK Horn Book

"Innovative illustrations add depth and texture to an evocative text." SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, starred School Library Journal, Starred

"English's story is engaging...Steptoe's stunning, mixed-media illustrations make the boar soar." BOOKLIST Booklist, ALA

Editorial Reviews

"English has childhood spats down pat...both original and emotionally effective...full of movement and energy and joy...'So good!' "

— Kirkus Reviews

"audiences will sympathize with the falling-out-with-a-friend blues even as they long for their own blue popsicles"
— Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

"High-energy collage illustrations...a satisfying summer story about community and friendship."

— Horn Book Magazine

"Innovative illustrations add depth and texture to an evocative text." — School Library Journal (starred review)

"English's story is engaging...Steptoe's stunning, mixed-media illustrations make the boar soar." — Booklist

From the Publisher

English's (Just Right Stew) carefully cadenced narrative sets a scene that conveys the sluggishness of a sizzling day, when it's "too hot to even flutter a fan." The high temperature only fuels the tension between Kishi and Ren e, who sneak peeks at each other but refuse to exchange words-"It's a best-friend-breakup day." The girls turn down neighbors' invitations to help do a crossword puzzle or weed a garden ("No working together on a never-speak-to-her-again-even-if-she-was-the-last-person-on-earth day"). Steptoe's (In Daddy's Arms I Am Tall) collage renderings of the girls' simmering anger echoes a palpable sense of heat, with backgrounds overlaid in tissues of orange and red hues. His small, boxy panel compositions underscore a sense of the girls having backed themselves into a corner. Ren e finally reveals to a neighbor (and simultaneously to Kishi) the root of the row: Kishi bought the last blue ice pop from the ice cream man even though she knows that is Ren e's favorite. When a neighborhood game of double dutch lures the girls to a truce, Steptoe's illustrations burst into full-page and full-spread collages. English works into her narrative the former feuding friends' jump-rope chants, the words to which are playfully arranged to mimic the line of the rope. The denouement may be somewhat syrupy, but youngsters will be pleased to see the girls' hard feelings evaporate, turning the summer afternoon into "a feeling-good-about-being-best-friends-again day." Ages 5-8. (May) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

PreS-Gr 3-Innovative illustrations add depth and texture to an evocative text. It's a sunny summer day, but close friends Kishi and Ren e are on the outs and stubbornly refuse to play together. Their tempers flare right along with the temperature, but eventually the sweltering midday heat subsides and both are lured from their porches by a vigorous game of double Dutch. By the time the ice-cream man turns the corner, all is forgiven and forgotten. Steptoe's found-object and cut-paper collages highlight facial features and depict oppressive summertime weather to perfection. The characters' full, pouting lips and clingy, perspiration-drenched clothes are made of sheer crepe paper; faces, eyelids, and limbs are cut from cardstock; and substantial twists of raffia and twine become jump ropes and dreadlocks. The images are busy without being cluttered. English's simple narrative consists mostly of two to three sentences per page and ends on a gratifying note. This book cheerfully illustrates the significance of a short memory in a lasting friendship.-Catherine Threadgill, Charleston County Public Library, SC Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

It's a hot day-it's also a "best-friend-breakup day." As Miss Johnson works her crossword puzzle and dozes, as Mr. Paul weeds his flower bed, Kishi and Renee remain resolutely apart: it appears that Kishi bought the very last blue ice pop, even though she knows that's Renee's favorite. It's a "never-speak-to-her-again-even-if-she-was-the-last-person-on-earth day." But then the siren song of jump-rope chanting calls and the girls are reunited in double-dutch-finding final resolution in one last, shared blue ice pop. English has childhood spats down pat, the apocalyptic sundering of a friendship miraculously healed by play. Steptoe's textured collage illustrations feature tissue-paper clothing over paper skin, all set against a background of rough wooden boards. He renders facial features in a highly naturalistic manner, with outsized lips and flat noses; it's an effect that may initially be off-putting for readers accustomed to smooth prettiness, but the total effect is both original and emotionally effective (particularly when the girls are squinty-mad, the ugliness of their emotions showing up clearly on their faces). The final scenes, of play and ice pops, are full of movement and energy and joy. "So good!" (Picture book. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews