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SMALL FRY

Name: SMALL FRY
Author: Jaime Adoff
ISBN: 978-0-525-46935-3

by Jaime Adoff & illustrated by Mike Reed ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 2008

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As all those petite, wannabe-tall yet slow-to-grow youngsters know, life as a small fry can have its disadvantages. Each of Adoff’s 19 free-verse poems tells a different, complete story and describes, often in a rapping rhythm, various scenarios with which kids of all sizes will identify. Augmented by Reed’s richly colored pastel/crayon drawings, each first-person voice expresses the frustrations of children who must contend with bullies or the dreaded “you have to be this tall…to ride me” amusement-park signs. Whether it’s having Dad bring encyclopedia volumes to the movies to see “high above these big head trees” or cannily choosing a sport that capitalizes on “my four foot frame” to “DODGE the / BALL / like it wasn’t there at all” or, as “Small Soldier,” accomplishing “my mission, almost impossible” to retrieve, commando style, the Wiffle ball from one enormous and ferocious-looking bulldog’s doghouse, a positive attitude can cut the world of big and tall right down to a manageable size. Cathartic and encouraging fun. (Picture book/poetry. 6-8)

Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2008

ISBN: 978-0-525-46935-3

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Dutton

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2008

Categories:

CHILDREN'S POETRY

- BOOK REVIEW
THE DEATH OF JAYSON PORTER
by Jaime Adoff

- BOOK REVIEW
NAMES WILL NEVER HURT ME
by Jaime Adoff

- BOOK REVIEW
THE SONG SHOOTS OUT OF MY MOUTH
by Jaime Adoff & illustrated by Martin French

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ZILOT & OTHER IMPORTANT RHYMES

by Bob Odenkirk ; illustrated by Erin Odenkirk ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 10, 2023

A lackluster collection of verse enlivened by a few bright spots.

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Poems on various topics by the actor/screenwriter and his kids.

In collaboration with his now-grown children—particularly daughter Erin, who adds gently humorous vignettes and spot art to each entry—Bob Odenkirk, best known for his roles in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, dishes up a poetic hodgepodge that is notably loose jointed in the meter and rhyme departments. The story also too often veers from child-friendly subjects (bedtime-delaying tactics, sympathy for a dog with the zoomies) to writerly whines (“The be-all and end-all of perfection in scribbling, / no matter and no mind to any critical quibbling”). Some of the less-than-compelling lines describe how a “plane ride is an irony / with a strange and wondrous duplicity.” A few gems are buried in the bunch, however, like the comforting words offered to a bedroom monster and a frightened invisible friend, not to mention an invitation from little Willy Whimble, who lives in a tuna can but has a heart as “big as can be. / Come inside, / stay for dinner. / I’ll roast us a pea!” They’re hard to find, though. Notwithstanding nods to Calef Brown, Shel Silverstein, and other gifted wordsmiths in the acknowledgments, the wordplay in general is as artificial as much of the writing: “I scratched, then I scrutched / and skrappled away, / scritching my itch with great / pan-a-ché…” Human figures are light-skinned throughout.

A lackluster collection of verse enlivened by a few bright spots. (Poetry. 6-8)

Pub Date: Oct. 10, 2023

ISBN: 9780316438506

Page Count: 160

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: Aug. 12, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S POETRY

- AWARDS
B&N Reveals Finalists for Book of the Year

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HONEY, I LOVE

by Eloise Greenfield & illustrated by Jan Spivey Gilchrist ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 2003

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Iffy art cramps this 25th-anniversary reissue of the joyful title poem from Greenfield’s first collection (1978), illustrated by the Dillons. As timeless as ever, the poem celebrates everything a child loves, from kissing Mama’s warm, soft arm to listening to a cousin from the South, “ ’cause every word he says / just kind of slides out of his mouth.” “I love a lot of things / a whole lot of things,” the narrator concludes, “And honey, / I love ME, too.” The African-American child in the pictures sports an updated hairstyle and a big, infectious grin—but even younger viewers will notice that the spray of cool water that supposedly “stings my stomach” isn’t aimed there, and that a comforter on the child’s bed changes patterns between pages. More problematic, though, is a dropped doll that suddenly acquires a horrified expression that makes it look disturbingly like a live baby, and the cutesy winged fairy that hovers over the sleeping child in the final scene. The poem deserves better. (Picture book/poetry. 6-8)