Fourteen-year-old Emily Shepherd’s life has just gotten better: she and her family have moved away from the school where Emily was ostracized for a facial scar sustained many years ago. She has since undergone corrective surgery and is eager for a fresh start in a place where no one knows her secret. Her family’s recently purchased Victorian is the perfect place to begin this new life. One of the house’s many charms is an elaborate treehouse in the backyard. There, Emily meets Rowan, a neighbor with a secret of her own. In the two teens and their families, Thesman creates highly contrasting characters. The Shepherds are a loud and loving stepfamily. Emily gets along with her mother and says about her stepfather: “My luckiest day was the day Mom married him.” How refreshing! By contrast, Rowan’s father is difficult and demanding, her mother distant and emotionally uninvolved. While Thesman only hints at spousal abuse, at the very least Rowan is not living in a happy, healthy home. Emily and Rowan become friends and discover that they each have something to offer the other: whereas Emily is practical and straightforward, Rowan has a terrific imagination that manifests itself in marvelous wood carvings that decorate the tree house. Emily’s influence on Rowan proves to be quite dramatic, giving Rowan the push she needs to rebel against her father. With only a handful of characters and one main setting, Thesman has crafted a subtle, quiet story of friendship and family dynamics. Emily and Rowan are wonderful characters, and the resolution both girls come to is satisfying. A great read, sure to appeal to middle-school readers. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-670-89288-2
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2000
Bishop’s spectacular photographs of the tiny red-eyed tree frog defeat an incidental text from Cowley (Singing Down the Rain, 1997, etc.). The frog, only two inches long, is enormous in this title; it appears along with other nocturnal residents of the rain forests of Central America, including the iguana, ant, katydid, caterpillar, and moth. In a final section, Cowley explains how small the frog is and aspects of its life cycle. The main text, however, is an afterthought to dramatic events in the photos, e.g., “But the red-eyed tree frog has been asleep all day. It wakes up hungry. What will it eat? Here is an iguana. Frogs do not eat iguanas.” Accompanying an astonishing photograph of the tree frog leaping away from a boa snake are three lines (“The snake flicks its tongue. It tastes frog in the air. Look out, frog!”) that neither advance nor complement the action. The layout employs pale and deep green pages and typeface, and large jewel-like photographs in which green and red dominate. The combination of such visually sophisticated pages and simplistic captions make this a top-heavy, unsatisfying title. (Picture book. 7-9)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-590-87175-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1999
Baker (Big Fat Hen, 1994, etc.) engages in more number play, posing ducklings in every combination of groups, e.g., “Splashing as they leap and dive/7 ducklings, 2 plus 5.” Using a great array of streaked and dappled papers, Baker creates a series of leafy collage scenes for the noisy, exuberant ducklings to fill, tucking in an occasional ladybug or other small creature for sharp-eyed pre-readers to spot. Children will regretfully wave goodbye as the ducks fly off in neat formation at the end of this brief, painless introduction to several basic math concepts. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-15-292858-8
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1999
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