Everyone’s porcine wonder is back, and just in time for Halloween. Mrs. Watson knows just what Mercy should be for the holiday—a tiara-and-pink-tulle-clad princess. Mercy is dubious, especially after struggling with her dress, until the word “treats” is mentioned. Toast with a great deal of butter is her favorite treat, and that thought is enough to keep our little porker in the game. Following the formula perfected in the earlier titles, the hilarity is found more in the super-saturated illustrations than in the words. Whether Mercy is flying after a terrified cat or snuffling for butter candy, the illustrations are energetic and the sly wit is infectious. One quibble: Because of the placement of spot art, some of the nighttime images show a blue-black darkness and others look like broad daylight. No matter, though—young readers will clamor for more adventures with this irrepressible retro pig and her lovable family. (Fiction. 5-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-7636-3014-0
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2007
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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