Although entertaining and fast-paced, there is nothing to elevate this effort above a crowded field.
The spunky, smart, but fictional Hilde who cracks a string of pastry thefts before the evening deadline is modeled after a real Hilde—the co-author—who runs her own newspaper.
Each crime—a stolen cherry pie, missing lemon cupcakes, eggs taken from under the hens, a broken cookie jar, a list of bake-off contestants that has disappeared—includes a clue that perceptive Hilde, in the quest of a good story, is sure to recognize. Aided by her sister, Izzy, the staff photographer, Hilde gamely moves from one crime to the next, calming irate adults as she eventually connects the dots just in the nick of time. Lew-Vriethoff’s attractive illustrations (many of which were just sketches at the time of review) are liberally sprinkled throughout the brief text, appearing on nearly every page. Hilde (and almost everyone else illustrated) is depicted as white. Her notes are included throughout; later a compilation is displayed. Unfortunately for fellow sleuths, the true perpetrator, although hinted at previously, isn’t included among Hilde’s list of potential thieves, making it hard to solve the crime ahead of the reporter herself. Although character development is lacking, it’s the investigation that’s the centerpiece of the tale, the first in a new series for emergent chapter-book readers.
Although entertaining and fast-paced, there is nothing to elevate this effort above a crowded field. (Fiction. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-338-14156-6
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Branches/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 4, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2017
A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends
Gerald the elephant learns a truth familiar to every preschooler—heck, every human: “Waiting is not easy!”
When Piggie cartwheels up to Gerald announcing that she has a surprise for him, Gerald is less than pleased to learn that the “surprise is a surprise.” Gerald pumps Piggie for information (it’s big, it’s pretty, and they can share it), but Piggie holds fast on this basic principle: Gerald will have to wait. Gerald lets out an almighty “GROAN!” Variations on this basic exchange occur throughout the day; Gerald pleads, Piggie insists they must wait; Gerald groans. As the day turns to twilight (signaled by the backgrounds that darken from mauve to gray to charcoal), Gerald gets grumpy. “WE HAVE WASTED THE WHOLE DAY!…And for WHAT!?” Piggie then gestures up to the Milky Way, which an awed Gerald acknowledges “was worth the wait.” Willems relies even more than usual on the slightest of changes in posture, layout and typography, as two waiting figures can’t help but be pretty static. At one point, Piggie assumes the lotus position, infuriating Gerald. Most amusingly, Gerald’s elephantine groans assume weighty physicality in spread-filling speech bubbles that knock Piggie to the ground. And the spectacular, photo-collaged images of the Milky Way that dwarf the two friends makes it clear that it was indeed worth the wait.
A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends . (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4231-9957-1
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014
A solo debut for Wenzel showcasing both technical chops and a philosophical bent.
Wouldn’t the same housecat look very different to a dog and a mouse, a bee and a flea, a fox, a goldfish, or a skunk?
The differences are certainly vast in Wenzel’s often melodramatic scenes. Benign and strokable beneath the hand of a light-skinned child (visible only from the waist down), the brindled cat is transformed to an ugly, skinny slinker in a suspicious dog’s view. In a fox’s eyes it looks like delectably chubby prey but looms, a terrifying monster, over a cowering mouse. It seems a field of colored dots to a bee; jagged vibrations to an earthworm; a hairy thicket to a flea. “Yes,” runs the terse commentary’s refrain, “they all saw the cat.” Words in italics and in capital letters in nearly every line give said commentary a deliberate cadence and pacing: “The cat walked through the world, / with its whiskers, ears, and paws… // and the fish saw A CAT.” Along with inviting more reflective viewers to ruminate about perception and subjectivity, the cat’s perambulations offer elemental visual delights in the art’s extreme and sudden shifts in color, texture, and mood from one page or page turn to the next.
A solo debut for Wenzel showcasing both technical chops and a philosophical bent. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4521-5013-0
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
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