Marching—dancing, rather—to the beat of a different drummer, Fritz whirls and twirls away from his mocking fellow goats in search of a herd that respects terpsichoreans. Along the way he picks up Liesl, a sheep who’s been booted from her flock for yodeling (“YODEL-LAY-HEEEEEEEEEEEE-EWE!”), and Gerhard the dog, similarly exiled for playing the glockenspiel. Long illustrates this distant cousin to “The Bremen Town Musicians” in bright, Bill Peet–style cartoons, depicting the three pop-eyed fellow travelers trotting up and down grassy sunlit hills with purple mountains in the near background. When Fritz at length loses heart (“Will I ever find my herd? Am I destined to dance alone?”), his companions twirl loyally into the breach, dancing his dance and making such a “ruckus on the buttercuppy hills” that Fritz’s heart “fandangoed with joy.” Since Fritz’s capering includes lots of leaps, it looks more like ballet than traditional fandango, but no matter—the trio’s quest should be a short one, considering all the performing livestock already on library shelves, and the theme of unity-in-diversity is brought home with a light touch. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: May 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-545-07554-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The wriggly narrator of Diary of a Worm (2003) puts in occasional appearances, but it’s his arachnid buddy who takes center stage here, with terse, tongue-in-cheek comments on his likes (his close friend Fly, Charlotte’s Web), his dislikes (vacuums, people with big feet), nervous encounters with a huge Daddy Longlegs, his extended family—which includes a Grandpa more than willing to share hard-won wisdom (The secret to a long, happy life: “Never fall asleep in a shoe.”)—and mishaps both at spider school and on the human playground. Bliss endows his garden-dwellers with faces and the odd hat or other accessory, and creates cozy webs or burrows colorfully decorated with corks, scraps, plastic toys and other human detritus. Spider closes with the notion that we could all get along, “just like me and Fly,” if we but got to know one another. Once again, brilliantly hilarious. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-06-000153-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Joanna Cotler/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2005
Rylant (Henry and Mudge and the Sneaky Crackers, 1998, etc.) slips into a sentimental mode for this latest outing of the boy and his dog, as she sends Mudge and Henry and his parents off on a camping trip. Each character is attended to, each personality sketched in a few brief words: Henry's mother is the camping veteran with outdoor savvy; Henry's father doesn't know a tent stake from a marshmallow fork, but he's got a guitar for campfire entertainment; and the principals are their usual ready-for-fun selves. There are sappy moments, e.g., after an evening of star- gazing, Rylant sends the family off to bed with: ``Everyone slept safe and sound and there were no bears, no scares. Just the clean smell of trees . . . and wonderful green dreams.'' With its nice tempo, the story is as toasty as its campfire and swaddled in Stevenson's trusty artwork. (Fiction. 6-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-689-81175-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1998
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