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THE WALLOPING WINDOW-BLIND

Name: THE WALLOPING WINDOW-BLIND
Author: Charles E. Carryl
ISBN: 0-688-12517-4

by Charles E. Carryl & adapted by Jim LaMarche & illustrated by Jim LaMarche ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1994

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LaMarche (illustrator of Melmed's Rainbabies, 1992) resets a familiar nonsense rhyme as the oceangoing adventures of a gang of cheery children. Bothered less by huge seas and roaring gales than by their diet (``a number of tons of hot-cross buns/Chopped up with sugar and glue,'' or later, once they've been cast ashore on the Gullaby Isles, fed ``From dawn to dark, on rubagub bark''), they cavort about their odd vessel or splash happily in a ``Peppermint Sea.'' Though the zany text has been considerably emended—e.g., the cook is no longer ``Dutch'' and the rescue ship at the end is not pirated—the realism of LaMarche's figures contrasts comically with their antics. An energetic alternative to Ted Rand's edition (1992). (Picture book. 5-8)

Pub Date: April 1, 1994

ISBN: 0-688-12517-4

Page Count: 24

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1994

Categories:

CHILDREN'S TRANSPORTATION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE WALLOPING WINDOW-BLIND
by Charles E. Carryl & illustrated by Ted Rand

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TINY LITTLE ROCKET

by Richard Collingridge ; illustrated by Richard Collingridge ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 31, 2018

A fair choice, but it may need some support to really blast off.

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This rocket hopes to take its readers on a birthday blast—but there may or may not be enough fuel.

Once a year, a one-seat rocket shoots out from Earth. Why? To reveal a special congratulatory banner for a once-a-year event. The second-person narration puts readers in the pilot’s seat and, through a (mostly) ballad-stanza rhyme scheme (abcb), sends them on a journey toward the sun, past meteors, and into the Kuiper belt. The final pages include additional information on how birthdays are measured against the Earth’s rotations around the sun. Collingridge aims for the stars with this title, and he mostly succeeds. The rhyme scheme flows smoothly, which will make listeners happy, but the illustrations (possibly a combination of paint with digital enhancements) may leave the viewers feeling a little cold. The pilot is seen only with a 1960s-style fishbowl helmet that completely obscures the face, gender, and race by reflecting the interior of the rocket ship. This may allow readers/listeners to picture themselves in the role, but it also may divest them of any emotional connection to the story. The last pages—the backside of a triple-gatefold spread—label the planets and include Pluto. While Pluto is correctly labeled as a dwarf planet, it’s an unusual choice to include it but not the other dwarfs: Ceres, Eris, etc. The illustration also neglects to include the asteroid belt or any of the solar system’s moons.

A fair choice, but it may need some support to really blast off. (Picture book. 6-8)

Pub Date: July 31, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-338-18949-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: David Fickling/Phoenix/Scholastic

Review Posted Online: April 15, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2018

Categories:

CHILDREN'S TRANSPORTATION

- BOOK REVIEW
LIONHEART
by Richard Collingridge ; illustrated by Richard Collingridge

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VIOLET THE PILOT

by Steve Breen & illustrated by Steve Breen ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2008

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Violet Van Winkle is an inventor with a flair for air. Her father manages a junkyard and while other girls play with dolls and tea sets, Violet is busy tinkering with monkey wrenches and needle-nosed pliers building elaborate contraptions, especially flying machines, like her Bicycopter, Pogo Plane and Wing-a-ma-jig. Kids at school make fun of her, but Violet hopes that if she wins an air-show competition with her special plane, The Hornet, they’ll be nice to her. On show day, she carefully calculates her flying time but diverts from her course to rescue a troop of Boy Scouts who have fallen into a river and drops them (literally) at the hospital. Sadly, her heroism makes her too late to enter the air show but her misery evaporates when the mayor presents her with a medal of valor. The comical cover is a grabber: Violet is piloting a homemade plane wearing a helmet and goggles and blowing bubble gum with Orville, her dog’s ears streaming in the wind like her scarf. The cartoon illustrations of watercolor, acrylic and pencil soar with inventive details and angles, e.g. close-up of Violet’s face in midair with bugs on her teeth. (Picture book. 5-8)