The sun’s coming up and it’s time for bat children to go to bed. Something is wrong, though, and bat brother Fink can’t sleep. Fang has just the thing for his brother: a scary story of a scary, stinky swamp with an even scarier and stinkier monster, Swamp Owl. Though Fang spins quite a tale, all it does is terrify Fink. Brother Batrick tells his own adventure story filled with pirates. Even sister Batsy gets in on the act with her story of love and kisses. Nothing will do until Mom Bat tells just the right tale. Gallagher-Cole fills her amusing black-and-white illustrations with images of a terrified, exhausted Fink clutching his stuffed bat doll while swamp bats, pirates and an eye-shadowed Cleobatra keep him awake. The stories-within-the-story are set apart inside a frame, making the overall narrative easy to follow. New readers will stay awake to read this one, filled as it is with silly wordplay, funny stories and frequent spot drawings. Insomnia, with a side of hilarity. (Early reader. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-58196-077-8
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Darby Creek
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2008
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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