Extraordinary science teacher Ms. Frizzle is back sans school bus in a nine-by-twelve format tackling a whole new subject area: social studies. Ms. Frizzle is vacationing in Egypt and travels back to ancient times. Cole (The Magic School Bus and the Electric Field Trip, 1997, etc.) continues the characteristic mix of fact and fantasy. Pages are packed with images of people, animals, architecture—and facts, facts, facts. Dress, writing, food, housing, social classes are all simply explained. “Ancient Egyptians wrote on paper made from papyrus, a large water plant. The paper was called papyrus, too.” Ms. Frizzle’s linear commentary is boxed on a white background, as rich additional material—comments, jokes, and data—are strewn about in cartoon speech balloons, postcards, diary entries, and sidebars. Ms. Frizzle’s attire continues to surprise and delight, from her airplane dress covered with images of flight to her Ancient Egypt costume crawling with scarabs. Degen presents a bolder palate of deep greens, brick browns, reds, and blues, using pen and ink, watercolor, color pencil, and gouache for the comical detailed paintings. An Egyptologist who lectures at the Metropolitan Museum of Art vetted Cole’s facts. The last page speaks directly to the fantasy elements of the story explaining what really can’t happen. Quite a trip. (Picture book. 7-10)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-590-44680-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Trickling, bubbling, swirling, rushing, a river flows down from its mountain beginnings, past peaceful country and bustling city on its way to the sea. Hooper (The Drop in My Drink, 1998, etc.) artfully evokes the water’s changing character as it transforms from “milky-cold / rattling-bold” to a wide, slow “sliding past mudflats / looping through marshes” to the end of its journey. Willey, best known for illustrating Geraldine McCaughrean’s spectacular folk-tale collections, contributes finely detailed scenes crafted in shimmering, intricate blues and greens, capturing mountain’s chill, the bucolic serenity of passing pastures, and a sense of mystery in the water’s shadowy depths. Though Hooper refers to “the cans and cartons / and bits of old wood” being swept along, there’s no direct conservation agenda here (for that, see Debby Atwell’s River, 1999), just appreciation for the river’s beauty and being. (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: June 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7636-0792-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2000
McDonald’s irrepressible third-grader (Judy Moody Gets Famous, 2001, etc.) takes a few false steps before hitting full stride. This time, not only has her genius little brother Stink submitted a competing entry in the Crazy Strips Band-Aid design contest, but in the wake of her science teacher’s heads-up about rainforest destruction and endangered animals, she sees every member of her family using rainforest products. It’s all more than enough to put her in a Mood, which gets her in trouble at home for letting Stink’s pet toad, Toady, go free, and at school for surreptitiously collecting all the pencils (made from rainforest cedar) in class. And to top it off, Stink’s Crazy Strips entry wins a prize, while she gets . . . a certificate. Chronicled amusingly in Reynolds’s frequent ink-and-tea drawings, Judy goes from pillar to post—but she justifies the pencil caper convincingly enough to spark a bottle drive that nets her and her classmates not only a hundred seedling trees for Costa Rica, but the coveted school Giraffe Award (given to those who stick their necks out), along with T-shirts and ice cream coupons. Judy’s growing corps of fans will crow “Rare!” right along with her. (Fiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-7636-1446-7
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2002
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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