by Dr. Seuss ; illustrated by Dr. Seuss ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1965
This is an amusing exercise for beginning readers, especially those who are inadequately equipped to skim or guess at words and who need a gentle brake applied. The sentence length, word shape and sounds employed require reader alertness and word-by-word recognition. One example will serve to show this as a strength of the book — "Clocks on fox tick. Clocks on Knox tock... Six sick bricks tick. Six sick chicks took." This same example also shows the weakness of many of these when considered purely as twisters. They can seldom survive a glance away from the Dr.'s characteristic, boldly colored drawings. Seen with the illustrations, however, they make for a certain kind of verbal/visual nonsense.
Pub Date: March 1, 1965
ISBN: 0307931803
Page Count: -
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Oct. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1965
Share your opinion of this book
More by Dr. Seuss
BOOK REVIEW
illustrated by Dr. Seuss
BOOK REVIEW
by Dr. Seuss ; illustrated by Andrew Joyner
BOOK REVIEW
by Katherine Applegate ; illustrated by Patricia Castelao ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 7, 2024
Not the most satisfying wrap-up, but it’s always good to spend time in the world of this series.
Beloved gorilla Ivan becomes a father to rambunctious twins in this finale to a quartet that began with 2012’s Newbery Award–winning The One and Only Ivan.
Life hasn’t always been easy for silverback gorilla Ivan, who’s spent most of his life being mistreated in captivity. Now he’s living in a wildlife sanctuary, but he still gets to see his two best friends. Young elephant Ruby lives in the grassy habitat next door, and former stray dog Bob has a home with one of the zookeepers. All three were rescued from the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade. Ivan’s expanded world includes fellow gorilla Kinyani—the two are about to become parents, and Ivan is revisiting the traumas of his past in light of what he wants the twins to know. When the subject inevitably comes up, Applegate’s trust and respect for readers is evident. She doesn’t shy away from hard truths as Ivan wrestles with the fact that poachers killed his family. Readers will need the context provided by knowledge of the earlier books to feel the full emotional impact of this story. The rushed ending unfortunately falls flat, detracting from the central message that a complex life can still contain hope. Final art not seen.
Not the most satisfying wrap-up, but it’s always good to spend time in the world of this series. (gorilla games, glossary, author’s note) (Verse fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: May 7, 2024
ISBN: 9780063221123
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
Share your opinion of this book
More by Katherine Applegate
BOOK REVIEW
by Katherine Applegate & Gennifer Choldenko ; illustrated by Wallace West
BOOK REVIEW
by Katherine Applegate ; illustrated by Patricia Castelao
BOOK REVIEW
by Katherine Applegate ; illustrated by Charles Santoso
by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by Jill McElmurry ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 23, 2014
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own...
The sturdy Little Blue Truck is back for his third adventure, this time delivering Christmas trees to his band of animal pals.
The truck is decked out for the season with a Christmas wreath that suggests a nose between headlights acting as eyeballs. Little Blue loads up with trees at Toad’s Trees, where five trees are marked with numbered tags. These five trees are counted and arithmetically manipulated in various ways throughout the rhyming story as they are dropped off one by one to Little Blue’s friends. The final tree is reserved for the truck’s own use at his garage home, where he is welcomed back by the tree salestoad in a neatly circular fashion. The last tree is already decorated, and Little Blue gets a surprise along with readers, as tiny lights embedded in the illustrations sparkle for a few seconds when the last page is turned. Though it’s a gimmick, it’s a pleasant surprise, and it fits with the retro atmosphere of the snowy country scenes. The short, rhyming text is accented with colored highlights, red for the animal sounds and bright green for the numerical words in the Christmas-tree countdown.
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own tree that will put a twinkle in a toddler’s eyes. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-32041-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
Share your opinion of this book
More by Alice Schertle
BOOK REVIEW
by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by Jill McElmurry
BOOK REVIEW
by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by John Joseph
BOOK REVIEW
by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by John Joseph
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.