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Spork (2010)

by Kyo Maclear(Favorite Author)

3.85 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1553377362 (ISBN13: 9781553377368)

languge

English

genre

Food & Cookbooks

publisher

Kids Can Press

review 1: Is it a spoon? Is it a fork? No it’s a spork! Never has cutlery come to life before my eyes in such an interesting and insightful way then when I open the pages of Kyo Maclears Spork. Spork is a contemporary rendition of biracial children and their desire for acceptance. People of multiple races or cultures often have difficulty finding a sense of place due to society’s ability to label and categorize people. One of the first identifiers children learn in is what their “people” look like so for a mixed person this message may be rather confusing. By having multiple cultural influences a person may question their place in society based on the ethnic standers a society may press upon individuals. However, these individuals should not question their sense of place be... morecause they do hold value and purpose! Spork begins with an introduction to a young spork who is a bit of his mom and a bit of his dad. As the young spork continues to grow he starts to notice standers pressed within the kitchen. Trying to craft himself to fit into one category of utensils within the kitchen, he is shut down by his peers for illustrating qualities of both a fork and spoon. Feeling alone because of his differences, the young spork watches the other utensils set up for dinner each night, playing around on the kitchen table. Spork longs for a purpose and it isn’t until a messy creature appears that he finds his place within the kitchen. Kyo Maclear appeals to young children by crafting a character that is both relatable and strong, in that he carries the ability to overcome societies, sometimes, repressive qualities. The playful mixed media illustrations feel both classic and modern, alluding to their ability to fit into any time place or context, while luring the reader into a whimsical world all its own. Spork will leave young readers feeling empowered to except their own differences and adapt these qualities into their own life, while asking the older audience to consider their journey to overcoming such differences. Maclear asks us to accept that we are a little bit of our mom and a little bit of our dad and that makes us completely our own wonderful self!
review 2: This is another one of those: little so-and-so was different than all the other whatzits, he never fit in no matter how hard he tried, it made him sad, until one day his uniqueness proved to be useful, and suddenly he felt proud of his difference.I know these books are for kids, I know the most important lessons are often simple and cliche, but for the LOVE OF GOD, it's been done! Almost 1/3 of the children's stories I read are this exact same story. We get it, sometimes being different can be useful. But we have Rudolph, we have the Ugly Duckling, we have so many existing stories that are superior to these new ones being constantly churned out. Furthermore, I'm getting tired of this whole message that being different is good because you are useful to people. What about kids who are different in a way that isn't useful to everyone? Shouldn't we be teaching children their lives have value beyond their usefulness to these so-called "normal people"? That's what set "The Terrible Thing that Happened to Barnaby Brocket" by John Boyne apart. The final revelation of the story wasn't that Barnaby finally became useful, he just learned to love who he was and left the haters behind.Anyway, all that ranting aside, "Spork" was a mildly amusing take on the very tired formula I discussed above. I'm sure your child won't mind how utterly uninspired the story's conceit is. less

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