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GULLIBLE'S TROUBLES

Name: GULLIBLE'S TROUBLES
Author: Margaret Shannon
ISBN: 0-395-83933-5

by Margaret Shannon & illustrated by Margaret Shannon ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1998

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Anyone who has ever been bamboozled by a belief that those he loves are telling the truth will be rooting for Gullible Guineapig. He is visiting his aunt, uncle, and cousin, and he is getting underfoot. Aunt Sarah tells him that if he eats 50 carrots, he’ll be invisible; Cousin Lila offers him real soccer boots (her rose pink heels); and Uncle Bernard sets him to washing coal. When the coal, of course, dissolves, Gullible goes to the basement to fetch more. He walks down the steps on his hands as Lila has warned him about the cellar monster, whose feet he (and readers) can see in the gloom. When Aunt Sarah, Uncle Bernard, and Lila go down to the cellar and don’t return, Gullible eats a quick 50 carrots, puts on his “soccer boots,” and invisibly scampers home to his mom, reappearing in her arms. He gets the last laugh at his relatives, too, for when they emerge from the basement, the cellar monster is behind them. The message is pretty mean, but the paintings—rich in color, detail, and silliness—will have children laughing out loud by the closing scene. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: March 1, 1998

ISBN: 0-395-83933-5

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1998

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

- BOOK REVIEW
THE RED WOLF
by Margaret Shannon & illustrated by Margaret Shannon

PETE THE CAT'S 12 GROOVY DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

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PETE THE CAT'S 12 GROOVY DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

by James Dean ; illustrated by James Dean ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 18, 2018

Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among

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Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.

If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”

Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018

ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS

- BOOK REVIEW
PETE THE KITTY'S FIRST DAY OF PRESCHOOL
by Kimberly Dean ; illustrated by James Dean

- BOOK REVIEW
I LOVE PETE THE KITTY
by James Dean & Kimberly Dean ; illustrated by James Dean

- BOOK REVIEW
TOOL SCHOOL
by Joan Holub ; illustrated by James Dean

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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)