Weighed in the balance, found wanting.
Scorpio is throwing a Halloween party, but Libra gets so fussed about what to wear that she decides not to go.
The creators of Astro Baby (2019) kick off a more-extended trip around the zodiac with a cast that exaggeratedly embodies each sign’s supposed characteristics. Writing at rather than for children in a mix of laborious explanations and wooden dialogue, Tea pushes her narrator past an introduction (“I like to keep things balanced and equal to harmonize the vibes”) and then into a tizzy when Scorpio crawls up with an invitation. What costume to wear? Cinderella? “But then I’d have to marry a prince or something.” How about Coco Chanel? “I don’t even speak French!” Finally fellow air signs Aquarius and Gemini transform Libra into a “French fairy mermaid princess who just won the gold medal in the Olympics!” Now Libra needs no help deciding that it’s the “best Halloween party ever!” Perry’s illustrations, most of which are dizzy tangles of unfilled, autumnal-orange line drawings, are printed, like the hand-lettered narrative, on starry black backdrops. Between Scorpio’s long, segmented body and dripping fangs and Libra, who looks like a diapered adult with scales for ears, the effect is more than a little weird. Scorpio in Berry Intense publishes simultaneously, and signs point to 10 further sequels on the way.
Weighed in the balance, found wanting. (Picture book. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-948340-14-4
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Dottir Press
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...
A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider and a little girl.
Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"—then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring.
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often informative as amusing, and the whole tenor of appealing wit and pathos will make fine entertainment for reading aloud, too.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1952
ISBN: 978-0-06-026385-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
A real gem.
A 10-year old girl learns to adjust to a strange town, makes some fascinating friends, and fills the empty space in her heart thanks to a big old stray dog in this lyrical, moving, and enchanting book by a fresh new voice.
India Opal’s mama left when she was only three, and her father, “the preacher,” is absorbed in his own loss and in the work of his new ministry at the Open-Arms Baptist Church of Naomi [Florida]. Enter Winn-Dixie, a dog who “looked like a big piece of old brown carpet that had been left out in the rain.” But, this dog had a grin “so big that it made him sneeze.” And, as Opal says, “It’s hard not to immediately fall in love with a dog who has a good sense of humor.” Because of Winn-Dixie, Opal meets Miss Franny Block, an elderly lady whose papa built her a library of her own when she was just a little girl and she’s been the librarian ever since. Then, there’s nearly blind Gloria Dump, who hangs the empty bottle wreckage of her past from the mistake tree in her back yard. And, Otis, oh yes, Otis, whose music charms the gerbils, rabbits, snakes and lizards he’s let out of their cages in the pet store. Brush strokes of magical realism elevate this beyond a simple story of friendship to a well-crafted tale of community and fellowship, of sweetness, sorrow and hope. And, it’s funny, too.
A real gem. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: March 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7636-0776-2
Page Count: 182
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2000
SEEN & HEARD
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