Ultimately, “list” books wear thin, and this is no exception. It will likely be passed around, but repeated readings are not...
Who doesn’t want to learn new excuses for unfinished assignments?
That’s just what this title offers—26 outlandish solutions to that “What to say?” dilemma. When a boy is questioned by his teacher about the missing homework, he thinks fast. The ideas fire in rapid succession, from being attacked by Vikings and hiding escaped convicts in his bedroom to giving his pencils to Robin Hood and sacrificing workbooks to heat his home. Chaud’s ink-and-watercolor scenes vary from single- to double-page spreads, with simpler compositions than in The Bear’s Song (2013), although there are some crowd scenes, as when the “famous director asked to use my bedroom to shoot his new movie.” Cowboys, Indians on horseback and glamorous women make themselves at home, surrounded by the railroad track and film crew. Shades of red and green dominate the palette, lending a sense of uniformity to an otherwise diverse range of settings and characters. The combination of the boy’s formal attire—a dark suit and bright red tie—and his long, unruly hair casts uncertainty as to his veracity, until the teacher pulls out the book from behind her back to reveal the same one in readers’ hands; the game is up.
Ultimately, “list” books wear thin, and this is no exception. It will likely be passed around, but repeated readings are not particularly rewarding. (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: March 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2551-0
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 28, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
This story covers the few days preceding the much-anticipated Midnight Zombie Walk, when Stink and company will take to the...
An all-zombie-all-the-time zombiefest, featuring a bunch of grade-school kids, including protagonist Stink and his happy comrades.
This story covers the few days preceding the much-anticipated Midnight Zombie Walk, when Stink and company will take to the streets in the time-honored stiff-armed, stiff-legged fashion. McDonald signals her intent on page one: “Stink and Webster were playing Attack of the Knitting Needle Zombies when Fred Zombie’s eye fell off and rolled across the floor.” The farce is as broad as the Atlantic, with enough spookiness just below the surface to provide the all-important shivers. Accompanied by Reynolds’ drawings—dozens of scene-setting gems with good, creepy living dead—McDonald shapes chapters around zombie motifs: making zombie costumes, eating zombie fare at school, reading zombie books each other to reach the one-million-minutes-of-reading challenge. When the zombie walk happens, it delivers solid zombie awfulness. McDonald’s feel-good tone is deeply encouraging for readers to get up and do this for themselves because it looks like so much darned fun, while the sub-message—that reading grows “strong hearts and minds,” as well as teeth and bones—is enough of a vital interest to the story line to be taken at face value.Pub Date: March 13, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5692-8
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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