A muffed take on the observation that children sometimes get more out of the box in which a gift comes than the gift itself. As little Tom unwraps his birthday presents, big brother Jack gets the boxes—and goes on to have all sorts of adventures in his pretend train, boat and rocket. Then, seeing that Tom’s been reduced to watching while their parents play with the new toys, Jack turns his boxes into a jail; suddenly, the grownups are watching from behind bars as Tom finally gets his hands on the loot. Young children drawn by the bright, solid colors in Pottie’s simple cartoon illustrations may enjoy the wish fulfillment here, but will wonder if there’s a page or two missing. Stick with smoother takes on the theme, such as Marisabina Russo’s The Big Brown Box (2000), or John Prater’s The Gift (1986). (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2005
ISBN: 0-00-710410-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Collins Children’s Books/Trafalgar
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2005
In his third beginning reader about Otto the robot, Milgrim (See Otto, 2002, etc.) introduces another new friend for Otto, a little mouse named Pip. The simple plot involves a large balloon that Otto kindly shares with Pip after the mouse has a rather funny pointing attack. (Pip seems to be in that I-point-and-I-want-it phase common with one-year-olds.) The big purple balloon is large enough to carry Pip up and away over the clouds, until Pip runs into Zee the bee. (“Oops, there goes Pip.”) Otto flies a plane up to rescue Pip (“Hurry, Otto, Hurry”), but they crash (and splash) in front of some hippos with another big balloon, and the story ends as it begins, with a droll “See Pip point.” Milgrim again succeeds in the difficult challenge of creating a real, funny story with just a few simple words. His illustrations utilize lots of motion and basic geometric shapes with heavy black outlines, all against pastel backgrounds with text set in an extra-large typeface. Emergent readers will like the humor in little Pip’s pointed requests, and more engaging adventures for Otto and Pip will be welcome additions to the limited selection of funny stories for children just beginning to read. (Easy reader. 5-7)
Pub Date: March 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-689-85116-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2003
Dedicated “to children everywhere sitting in cardboard boxes,” this elemental debut depicts a bunny with big, looping ears demonstrating to a rather thick, unseen questioner (“Are you still standing around in that box?”) that what might look like an ordinary carton is actually a race car, a mountain, a burning building, a spaceship or anything else the imagination might dream up. Portis pairs each question and increasingly emphatic response with a playscape of Crockett Johnson–style simplicity, digitally drawn with single red and black lines against generally pale color fields. Appropriately bound in brown paper, this makes its profound point more directly than such like-themed tales as Marisabina Russo’s Big Brown Box (2000) or Dana Kessimakis Smith’s Brave Spaceboy (2005). (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-112322-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2006
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