Big Red Lollipop
A Picture Book By Rukhsana Khan
Illustrated by Sophie Blackall
A multicultural picture book about greed and temptation, set in North America about two sisters who are invited to a birthday party.
Published by Viking Children’s Books, Spring 2010
40 pg, Hardcover
ISBN 9780670062874
Big Red Lollipop is also published in Indonesia, China and Japan.
AR Quiz No. 134832 EN Fiction
IL: LG – BL: 2.2 – AR Pts: 0.5
AR Quiz Types: RP
Rating: 3 1/2 STARS
Resources
Rukhsana’s Book Talk/Tutorial for how best to use this book in the classroom
Awards & Recognition
New York Public Library, 100 Great Children's Books in 100 years selection
Winner of 2011 Golden Kite Award for best picture book text
Winner of 2011 Charlotte Zolotow Award for best picture book text
Selected for New York Times top ten illustrated books of 2010
Bank Street College Best Books of the Year 2011, under 5 category
Kirkus list of 2010 Best Children's Books
Nominated for Georgia Children's Book Award 2012
Nominated for Maine Chickadee Award 2011-2012
Selected as a Junior Library Guild Choice
Featured in JLG Monthly April/May 2010 issue
Reviews
"..."Big Red Lollipop" is a delight, a simple story with considerable depth. Young readers will recognize some universal truths: the brattiness of young siblings, the great unfairness that birth order wreaks on the world. They will also see truthfully rendered social awkwardness, and learn something of the uneasy spot in which young children of immigrants often find themselves, obliged to obey their parents while also instructing them in the mysterious ways of their adopted land...
New York Times Review
"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…Khan's remarkable 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…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
“…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'…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