Pamintuan’s caricature-style portraits of exaggeratedly sinuous, muscular players in action are a hoot, but this baseball abecedarium is sabotaged by a bush-league text. Not only does Spradlin display clumsy prose—closing his comment on T for “Tag” with the claim that a fielder “must step on the base with the ball in his glove before the runner does”—he doesn’t even get his baseball facts straight: No, a knuckleball isn’t gripped with the knuckles (the accompanying pictures shows the correct grip), nor does the pitch have “a crazy spin when thrown” (its distinctive action is achieved by giving the ball no spin at all). There are plenty of better-written and at least somewhat more systematic baseball alphabets to get young readers primed for Opening Day—H Is for Home Run, by Brad Herzog and illustrated by Melanie Rose (2004), and B Is for Baseball, by Lisa McGuinness (2009), for example. This one’s an easy out. (Informational picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: March 23, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-06-124081-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2010
Scotton makes a stylish debut with this tale of a sleepless sheep—depicted as a blocky, pop-eyed, very soft-looking woolly with a skinny striped nightcap of unusual length—trying everything, from stripping down to his spotted shorts to counting all six hundred million billion and ten stars, twice, in an effort to doze off. Not even counting sheep . . . well, actually, that does work, once he counts himself. Dawn finds him tucked beneath a rather-too-small quilt while the rest of his flock rises to bathe, brush and riffle through the Daily Bleat. Russell doesn’t have quite the big personality of Ian Falconer’s Olivia, but more sophisticated fans of the precocious piglet will find in this art the same sort of daffy urbanity. Quite a contrast to the usual run of ovine-driven snoozers, like Phyllis Root’s Ten Sleepy Sheep, illustrated by Susan Gaber (2004). (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-06-059848-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2005
Amusing but a little off tempo.
It’s important to hit all the right notes.
A tan-skinned musical composer with puffy black hair is busy at work on his next musical masterpiece when Half Note, a music symbol denoting two beats, feels unappreciated. Half Note is jealous of the more commonly used Quarter Note (one beat) and Eighth Note. Although the other musical symbols attempt to calm and comfort Half Note, she decides to run away. The next day, Composer needs Half Note and panics when he realizes that she’s gone. The other notes and musical symbols try to find her, but it’s only when they try to play her favorite song, “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” without her—with terrible results—that she comes running back. The story’s humor—which is largely based on “dad joke” puns—is completely dependent on readers’ musical knowledge. The artwork, a mix of acrylic and colored pencil, attempts to add some allegrezza to the piece, and while it’s not unsuccessful, it’s facing an uphill battle. Music teachers and musically minded caregivers may find some value in this story, but it will likely be too specialized for general readers. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Amusing but a little off tempo. (glossary) (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: March 14, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-64567-631-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Page Street
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2023
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