Though Jean George has always had her ups and downs, it's hard to believe that the author of Julie of the Wolves could produce this pulpy drivel. As always, her descriptions of the wildlife and terrain in question convinces you that she knows it well, and the ecological story is up to her everyday standard: Marcus, seventeen and gung ho to shoot Old Gore, king of the mountain goats, is hired through his hunter father to study the goats and confirm Errington's law of compensation (that for every prey animal killed another lives to replace it); during his summer in the mountains, Marcus comes reluctantly to believe that the law does not apply and the goats must be protected. But George's problem is with the personal relationships, especially those between Marcus and Melissa Morgan—Melissa, whose family has long feuded with his, whose brother Will falls to his death in a fight with Marcus early in the novel, who herself secretly becomes Marcus' wife at fifteen. (The couple have been in love since first sighting each other when she was in fifth grade and he in seventh.) It is really Melissa, of the golden-red curls, supple body and joyful cries, who organizes the goat study and pursues the evidence against Errington's law—but when Marcus goes after Old Gore with a gun because a local Blackfoot has temporarily convinced him that Will's spirit is trapped in the goat and can only be freed by death, a shocked Melissa leaves their tent home and allows her father to annul their marriage. George's gushy, clichéd prose makes this read even worse than it sounds; it's clear that she derives more inspiration from Romulus and Remus than from Romeo and Juliet.
Pub Date: April 1, 1976
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Harper & Row
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1976
Little Blue Truck keeps on truckin’—but not without some backfires.
Little Blue Truck feels, well, blue when he delivers valentine after valentine but receives nary a one.
His bed overflowing with cards, Blue sets out to deliver a yellow card with purple polka dots and a shiny purple heart to Hen, one with a shiny fuchsia heart to Pig, a big, shiny, red heart-shaped card to Horse, and so on. With each delivery there is an exchange of Beeps from Blue and the appropriate animal sounds from his friends, Blue’s Beeps always set in blue and the animal’s vocalization in a color that matches the card it receives. But as Blue heads home, his deliveries complete, his headlight eyes are sad and his front bumper droops ever so slightly. Blue is therefore surprised (but readers may not be) when he pulls into his garage to be greeted by all his friends with a shiny blue valentine just for him. In this, Blue’s seventh outing, it’s not just the sturdy protagonist that seems to be wilting. Schertle’s verse, usually reliable, stumbles more than once; stanzas such as “But Valentine’s Day / didn’t seem much fun / when he didn’t get cards / from anyone” will cause hitches during read-alouds. The illustrations, done by Joseph in the style of original series collaborator Jill McElmurry, are pleasant enough, but his compositions often feel stiff and forced.
Little Blue Truck keeps on truckin’—but not without some backfires. (Board book. 1-4)Pub Date: Dec. 8, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-358-27244-1
Page Count: 20
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.
The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
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