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HENRY & THE BUCCANEER BUNNIES

In this unsubtle plug for bookworms everywhere, the nerdy offspring of feared pirate Barnacle Black Ear looks up from his compulsive reading to see a bad storm coming, rescues his dad and the rest of the Salty Carrot’s crew, then once ashore, quickly fashions a luxurious hut, fancy new outfits, delicious meals and other comforts from found materials—all using knowledge gained from tomes with titles like 101 Things To Do With Palm Fronds and Coconuts. Manders decks out his Chuck Jones–style illustrations in bunnies with long floppy ears and big toothy grins, along with a supporting cast of silly-looking seabirds. By the end, even Barnacle Black Ear’s come round, bellowing out in oversized type: “Aye! Buccaneer Bunnies will always need books!” A worthy message, even though it’s delivered with hull-smashing force, and less convincingly than in Judy Sierra’s Wild About Books (2004), illustrated by Marc Brown. (Picture books. 6-8)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2005

ISBN: 0-7636-2449-7

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Candlewick

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2005

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HOW TO CATCH A GINGERBREAD MAN

From the How To Catch… series

A brisk if bland offering for series fans, but cleverer metafictive romps abound.

The titular cookie runs off the page at a bookstore storytime, pursued by young listeners and literary characters.

Following on 13 previous How To Catch… escapades, Wallace supplies sometimes-tortured doggerel and Elkerton, a set of helter-skelter cartoon scenes. Here the insouciant narrator scampers through aisles, avoiding a series of elaborate snares set by the racially diverse young storytime audience with help from some classic figures: “Alice and her mad-hat friends, / as a gift for my unbirthday, / helped guide me through the walls of shelves— / now I’m bound to find my way.” The literary helpers don’t look like their conventional or Disney counterparts in the illustrations, but all are clearly identified by at least a broad hint or visual cue, like the unnamed “wizard” who swoops in on a broom to knock over a tower labeled “Frogwarts.” Along with playing a bit fast and loose with details (“Perhaps the boy with the magic beans / saved me with his cow…”) the author discards his original’s lip-smacking climax to have the errant snack circling back at last to his book for a comfier sort of happily-ever-after.

A brisk if bland offering for series fans, but cleverer metafictive romps abound. (Picture book. 6-8)

Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021

ISBN: 978-1-7282-0935-7

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland

Review Posted Online: July 26, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021

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ZATHURA

A trite, knock-off sequel to Jumanji (1981). The “Jumanji” box distracts Walter Budwing away from beating up on his little brother Danny, but it’s Danny who discovers the Zathura board inside—and in no time, Earth is far behind, a meteor has smashed through the roof, and a reptilian Zyborg pirate is crawling through the hole. Each throw of the dice brings an ominous new development, portrayed in grainy, penciled freeze frames featuring sculptured-looking figures in constricted, almost claustrophobic settings. The angles of view are, as always, wonderfully dramatic, but not only is much of the finer detail that contributed to Jumanji’s astonishing realism missing, the spectacular damage being done to the Budwings’ house as the game progresses is, by and large, only glimpsed around the picture edges. Naturally, having had his bacon repeatedly saved by his younger sibling’s quick thinking, once Walter falls through a black hole to a time preceding the game’s start, his attitude toward Danny undergoes a sudden, radical transformation. Van Allsburg’s imagination usually soars right along with his accomplished art—but here, both are just running in place. (Picture book. 6-8)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2002

ISBN: 0-618-25396-3

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2002

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