Moses is back in school after summer vacation and Millman (Moses Goes to a Concert, 1998) describes a typical first day of school. Moses and his friends talk about what happened during the summer: a new baby sister, five hamster babies, new glasses, and a new hearing aid. They work on their computer skills; they practice reading and writing; and Mr. Samuels, their new teacher, brings in a boom box and the children have a great time singing and dancing. When the school day is over, Moses and his friends board the bus and share the events of the day with Mom. What makes this story unusual is that Moses is a student at a school for deaf and hard-of-hearing children and the children are singing and speaking in American Sign Language. To his credit, Millman demystifies the special school setting and shows children having ordinary school experiences. He explains the adaptations and modifications required for the deaf or hard-of-hearing without making Moses seem extraordinary. For example, Moses learns English as a second language since ASL has its own syntax and rules. Many easy-to-understand illustrations of sign language encourage readers to try some sentences on their own. They can even try singing and signing “Take Me Out To the Ball Game.” An author’s note includes additional information about ASL and directions on how to read the symbols in the illustrations of the sign language sentences. This is an excellent read-aloud for the back-to-school crowd. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: Aug. 29, 2000
ISBN: 0-374-35069-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
In his third beginning reader about Otto the robot, Milgrim (See Otto, 2002, etc.) introduces another new friend for Otto, a little mouse named Pip. The simple plot involves a large balloon that Otto kindly shares with Pip after the mouse has a rather funny pointing attack. (Pip seems to be in that I-point-and-I-want-it phase common with one-year-olds.) The big purple balloon is large enough to carry Pip up and away over the clouds, until Pip runs into Zee the bee. (“Oops, there goes Pip.”) Otto flies a plane up to rescue Pip (“Hurry, Otto, Hurry”), but they crash (and splash) in front of some hippos with another big balloon, and the story ends as it begins, with a droll “See Pip point.” Milgrim again succeeds in the difficult challenge of creating a real, funny story with just a few simple words. His illustrations utilize lots of motion and basic geometric shapes with heavy black outlines, all against pastel backgrounds with text set in an extra-large typeface. Emergent readers will like the humor in little Pip’s pointed requests, and more engaging adventures for Otto and Pip will be welcome additions to the limited selection of funny stories for children just beginning to read. (Easy reader. 5-7)
Pub Date: March 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-689-85116-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2003
Dedicated “to children everywhere sitting in cardboard boxes,” this elemental debut depicts a bunny with big, looping ears demonstrating to a rather thick, unseen questioner (“Are you still standing around in that box?”) that what might look like an ordinary carton is actually a race car, a mountain, a burning building, a spaceship or anything else the imagination might dream up. Portis pairs each question and increasingly emphatic response with a playscape of Crockett Johnson–style simplicity, digitally drawn with single red and black lines against generally pale color fields. Appropriately bound in brown paper, this makes its profound point more directly than such like-themed tales as Marisabina Russo’s Big Brown Box (2000) or Dana Kessimakis Smith’s Brave Spaceboy (2005). (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-112322-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2006
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