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CUNNING CAT TALES

Name: CUNNING CAT TALES
Author: Laura Cecil
ISBN: 1-84365-023-1

adapted by Laura Cecil & illustrated by Emma Chichester Clark ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 15, 2004

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Three cat folktales are simplified and typographically designed to encourage reading aloud, as the introduction explains, by concentrating on direct speech rather than description. “Puss in Boots,” “The White Cat,” and “Sir Pussycat,” an Italian variation of “Diamonds and Toads,” incorporate different type styles and bold-faced phrases to suggest sound effects and dramatic moments and to allow for multiple voices and listener participation: “Stop complaining!” snorted Puss. “Find me a bag and a fine pair of boots.” Chichester Clark’s familiar sprightly art illustrates the tales; set against white backgrounds, the brightly colored scenes, often no more than spots, enrich each story’s vignettes. The book succeeds in its purpose with the device encouraging expressive reading aloud while bringing two lesser-known tales to young readers and their families. As the introduction says, “All reading starts as reading aloud.” Bravo. (Folktales. 5-8)

Pub Date: March 15, 2004

ISBN: 1-84365-023-1

Page Count: 80

Publisher: Pavilion/Trafalgar

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2004

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

- BOOK REVIEW
A THOUSAND YARDS OF SEA
edited by Laura Cecil & illustrated by Emma Chichester Clark

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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)