Bling Blaine: Throw Glitter, Not Shade

by Rob Sanders, Letizia Rizzo (Illustrator)

Overview

A heartwarming picture book about the power of allies to lift others up . . . and the sparkling magic of glitter!
 
Blaine’s a boy who loves to shine . . . well actually, he loves to sparkle. Whether it's his uniform, his book bag, or even his baseball cap, Blaine’s all about the bling. But when his bling rubs some people the wrong way, and the bullying begins, Blaine—along with the entire school—starts to lose his shine. Can Blaine's friends bring back his glimmer and gleam by glittering up their own wardrobes? This delightful story proves that anyone can love bling, and that happiness comes when allies band together to throw glitter—not shade.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781454934561
Publisher:	Union Square Kids
Publication date:	09/01/2020
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	1,059,093
Product dimensions:	10.20(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	3 - 18 Years

About the Author

Rob Sanders is an elementary school teacher in Brandon, FL. He is the author of Pride: The Story of Harvey Milkand the Rainbow Flag, Peaceful Fights for Equal Rights, and Stonewall: A Building. An Uprising. A Revolution. His other picture books include Rodzilla, the Ruby Rose series, and Outer Space, Bedtime Race. Find out more at robsanderswrites.com.

Letizia Rizzo is an illustrator from southern Italy. Her previous books include Big Red for Little Bear and Red’s Adventures: The Egg Pie. You can find her art on Instagram at @linoermel.

Editorial Reviews

07/01/2020

K-Gr 2—An awe-inspiring picture book with a shiny message: Glitter is not just for girls. Blaine, with black hair, brown skin, and huge eyes to match his gigantic gestures, enjoys being expressive by using sparkle and glitter on anything he wears. He adorns his backpack with sequins, he bedazzles his sneakers, and when he visits the school library he creates "glossy stickers." He is known as the boy who adores his dazzle and sparkle. But not everybody is comfortable with Blaine and his sequins; other students began to shout at him that such things are for girls only, and a boy calls Blaine a sissy. Blaine stops using sequins and glitter, and the days are drab. What happens next is a show of solidarity: Sara and all Blaine's friends start wearing sequins and bedazzling their school uniforms. Blaine gets his bling back, but feels sparkly on the inside, too.This socially conscious book works as a simple tale of acceptance, but also lightly touches on bullying and herd mentality. Readers will rejoice that the children took matters into their own hands, while also enjoying Rizzo's colorful scenes of a diverse population. VERDICT. Young readers will find themselves in the pages of this great addition to public and school library collections.—Annmarie Braithwaite, New York P.L., New York City

School Library Journal

2020-05-05
Sparkles are not gender specific.

Say hello to Blaine, a brown-skinned boy who loves things that sparkle. Blaine’s motto is “throw glitter, not shade!” and he embodies it by accessorizing everything from his hat to his backpack in shimmery sparkles. For the most part, Blaine’s classmates, a diverse bunch, embrace the title character’s dazzling accessories and help explain his passion to unfamiliar people by relating it to similar enthusiasms in their own lives. When the haters’ words eventually get to Blaine and bullying starts, the sparkles are abandoned, and Blaine becomes a shadow of his former glitzy self. Blaine’s friends notice the change and fix the problem by wearing their own scintillating accessories and engaging in (implied) in-depth conversations with the haters. The intentions are great, but the story itself creaks, treating Blaine like a plot device and not a real character. His only proactive stance throughout is to offer a sparkly present to one of his detractors as a peace offering, a one-sided gesture, as the kid never apologizes. The bland cartoon artwork does little to enhance the story, and while the diversity of characters is welcome, the use of slits to represent the closed eyes of an Asian student (as compared to every other character’s, which resemble u’s when closed) disappoints. The backmatter introduces readers to the term “ally,” but the subsequent best-practices advice does little to further the conversation.

Costume jewelry at best. (Picture book. 6-10)

Kirkus Reviews