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MIXED BEASTS

Name: MIXED BEASTS
Author: Kenyon Cox
ISBN: 1-55337-796-6

by Kenyon Cox & illustrated by Wallace Edwards ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2005

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This gallery of portmanteau beasts features new illustrations captioned by Cox’s ragged rhymes, which were originally published under the same title in 1904. In a finished, painterly style, Edwards places his often hilariously imagined subjects in elaborate settings. A chubby “Bumblebeaver”—“A cheerful and industrious beast, / He’s always humming as he goes / to make mud houses with his tail / Or gather honey with his nose”—cruises like a zeppelin over a mass of flowers. A large “Octopussycat” lounges in an overstuffed chair, sipping tea from a china cup while playing the violin. A “Pelicantelope” wields chopsticks over a sashimi platter. Readers will also meet the likes of the wheeled “Flamingocart,” the delectable “Creampuffin,” and in a final spread, thumbnail portraits of 32 more creatures, from the Fruit Bat (picture a banana with wings) to a nattily attired Treefrog, that had been tucked into the earlier scenes. Worth a visit, particularly for fans of Jack Prelutsky’s Scranimals (2002), illustrated by Peter Sís. (Picture book. 6-8)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2005

ISBN: 1-55337-796-6

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Kids Can

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2005

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S POETRY

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DIARY OF A SPIDER

by Doreen Cronin & illustrated by Harry Bliss ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 2005

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

- BOOK REVIEW
MAMA IN THE MOON
by Doreen Cronin ; illustrated by Brian Cronin

- BOOK REVIEW
LAWRENCE & SOPHIA
by Doreen Cronin ; illustrated by Brian Cronin

- BOOK REVIEW
CLICK, CLACK, GOOD NIGHT
by Doreen Cronin ; illustrated by Betsy Lewin

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HENRY AND MUDGE AND THE STARRY NIGHT

From the Henry and Mudge series

by Cynthia Rylant & illustrated by Sucie Stevenson ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1998

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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)