Whimsical verse marries curious art in a second collaboration by Lewis and Desimini (Doodle Dandies, 1998). A succession of animals including a flamingo, a dragon, a cowbird, and a pair of hippos suggest their abodes of choice in playful verses replete with puns and internal rhymes. “ ‘Here’s what to do: Read slowly, chew / Delicious books, all ages,’ ” / The Bookworm said, “ ‘but make your bed / With sheets of picture pages.’ ” Desimini’s collages, constructed by scanning images of all kinds of fabrics, textures, and pictures, will inspire scrutiny to detect their sources. An endnote reveals some secrets (the fact that the dragon’s scaly tail and shingled tower are made from Popsicle sticks, for example), while other image sources (coconuts, feathers, and a pincushion for the porcupine’s house) are more easily observed. Sly details abound. A cowbird’s home is a “Branch/Ranch,” complete with miniature black and white cows, while the polar bear’s ice house with “central air” contains fish within its frozen walls. Although some of the verses are uninspired (“into” rhyming with “into”), others delight, such as, “Perfectly porpoisely, / Porpoises purposely / Surf through the windows and / Leap through the door.” (Picture book/poetry. 6-8)
Pub Date: May 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-83161-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Anne Schwartz/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2001
The wriggly narrator of Diary of a Worm (2003) puts in occasional appearances, but it’s his arachnid buddy who takes center stage here, with terse, tongue-in-cheek comments on his likes (his close friend Fly, Charlotte’s Web), his dislikes (vacuums, people with big feet), nervous encounters with a huge Daddy Longlegs, his extended family—which includes a Grandpa more than willing to share hard-won wisdom (The secret to a long, happy life: “Never fall asleep in a shoe.”)—and mishaps both at spider school and on the human playground. Bliss endows his garden-dwellers with faces and the odd hat or other accessory, and creates cozy webs or burrows colorfully decorated with corks, scraps, plastic toys and other human detritus. Spider closes with the notion that we could all get along, “just like me and Fly,” if we but got to know one another. Once again, brilliantly hilarious. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-06-000153-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Joanna Cotler/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2005
Rylant (Henry and Mudge and the Sneaky Crackers, 1998, etc.) slips into a sentimental mode for this latest outing of the boy and his dog, as she sends Mudge and Henry and his parents off on a camping trip. Each character is attended to, each personality sketched in a few brief words: Henry's mother is the camping veteran with outdoor savvy; Henry's father doesn't know a tent stake from a marshmallow fork, but he's got a guitar for campfire entertainment; and the principals are their usual ready-for-fun selves. There are sappy moments, e.g., after an evening of star- gazing, Rylant sends the family off to bed with: ``Everyone slept safe and sound and there were no bears, no scares. Just the clean smell of trees . . . and wonderful green dreams.'' With its nice tempo, the story is as toasty as its campfire and swaddled in Stevenson's trusty artwork. (Fiction. 6-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-689-81175-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1998
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