Nothing turns out quite as planned in this warm and believable story of two classrooms, three sisters, and one new friendship. Amy and May, the troublesome twins from Big Trouble in Twinsville (not reviewed), are starting kindergarten. Eve, their older sister, is going to fourth grade and is hoping for some changes of her own. She is relieved that the fourth-grade classrooms will be far away from the twins and means to keep her life as separated from theirs as possible. She has big plans: she will not let people think she is a goody-goody; she will try to stop worrying so much; and she will make at least one “new, good friend.” Eve is unpleasantly surprised to discover that the long-time fourth-grade teacher, Mr. Leonard, is not in her classroom on the first day as she’d hoped. A new, young Miss Sherman is her teacher. Then she learns that the kindergarten teacher is also named Miss Sherman and she’s the twin sister of the fourth-grade Miss Sherman. The teaching sisters bring the two grades together to study the stars and signs of the zodiac and, as luck would have it, May and Eve are paired up to study Gemini, also twins. Eve does make a new friend, though he is hardly what she would have predicted on the first day. Adam (yes, that makes them Adam and Eve) is a new boy at the school and he’s everything Eve needs in a friend. Though they go through the expected rough spots all new friendships suffer, Adam and Eve become fast friends and a model of a boy-girl friendship, sadly lacking in fiction for this age group. Levy’s lively plot and winning characters are just right for each other. Match this with Johanna Hurwitz’s earlier Starting School for double the pleasure. (Fiction. 7-10)
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-06-028592-3
Page Count: 96
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2002
Trickling, bubbling, swirling, rushing, a river flows down from its mountain beginnings, past peaceful country and bustling city on its way to the sea. Hooper (The Drop in My Drink, 1998, etc.) artfully evokes the water’s changing character as it transforms from “milky-cold / rattling-bold” to a wide, slow “sliding past mudflats / looping through marshes” to the end of its journey. Willey, best known for illustrating Geraldine McCaughrean’s spectacular folk-tale collections, contributes finely detailed scenes crafted in shimmering, intricate blues and greens, capturing mountain’s chill, the bucolic serenity of passing pastures, and a sense of mystery in the water’s shadowy depths. Though Hooper refers to “the cans and cartons / and bits of old wood” being swept along, there’s no direct conservation agenda here (for that, see Debby Atwell’s River, 1999), just appreciation for the river’s beauty and being. (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: June 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7636-0792-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2000
Alert readers will find the implicit morals: know your audience, mostly, but also never underestimate the power of “rock”...
The theme of persistence (for better or worse) links four tales of magic, trickery, and near disasters.
Lachenmeyer freely borrows familiar folkloric elements, subjecting them to mildly comical twists. In the nearly wordless “Hip Hop Wish,” a frog inadvertently rubs a magic lamp and finds itself saddled with an importunate genie eager to shower it with inappropriate goods and riches. In the title tale, an increasingly annoyed music-hating witch transforms a persistent minstrel into a still-warbling cow, horse, sheep, goat, pig, duck, and rock in succession—then is horrified to catch herself humming a tune. Athesius the sorcerer outwits Warthius, a rival trying to steal his spells via a parrot, by casting silly ones in Ig-pay Atin-lay in the third episode, and in the finale, a painter’s repeated efforts to create a flattering portrait of an ogre king nearly get him thrown into a dungeon…until he suddenly understands what an ogre’s idea of “flattering” might be. The narratives, dialogue, and sound effects leave plenty of elbow room in Blocker’s big, brightly colored panels for the expressive animal and human(ish) figures—most of the latter being light skinned except for the golden genie, the blue ogre, and several people of color in the “Sorcerer’s New Pet.”
Alert readers will find the implicit morals: know your audience, mostly, but also never underestimate the power of “rock” music. (Graphic short stories. 8-10)Pub Date: June 18, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-59643-750-0
Page Count: 112
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2019
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