Would that every teacher could be this cool; Ms. Frizzle would be proud.
One teacher who is willing to look outside the box for a solution changes the life of a budding young artist.
Charlie Muttnik is the “pup with the pencil, / the mutt with the marker.…” He draws all the time, but finding a place to draw in his crowded Brooklyn apartment is not always easy, and things only get worse when he starts school. The margins of his papers become a doodling pad, which does not endear him to his teacher, Miss Rich, who is strict and by-the-book, or help his grades. Finally, when Charlie turns in a wordless climate report, Miss Rich decides to try something different. Equipped with supplies, Charlie stands at the back of the room orally answering questions while creating his artwork—a ploy that works to improve both his grades and his self-esteem, leading Miss Rich to try it with the whole class. And his now-proud parents dedicate a corner of the apartment to a drawing table just for Charlie. As with the illustrations he did for Joanna Cole’s Magic School Bus series, Degen mixes panels, vignettes and full-page spreads on his busy pages, his dog and cat characters spouting speech bubbles that both continue the story and add funny asides (“Is there fresh air in Brooklyn?”).
Would that every teacher could be this cool; Ms. Frizzle would be proud. (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: June 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-06-028417-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 8, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2012
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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