A brief but tasty morsel.
When thieves steal the monumental Big Cheese, all Mouseopolis turns to its favorite masked crime fighter.
With liberal use of flaps and die-cut holes, including one in the front cover, to add extra drama to the caper, Chambers follows seemingly ordinary citizen Peter Parmesan as he transforms himself into the mighty Supermouse to investigate the theft. He tracks a trail of cheese crumbs from the Hickory Dickory Docks to a dark warehouse where the culprits lurk. Miraculously avoiding an ambush involving a vat of bubbling fondue, Supermouse bursts in just as the villains are about to “cut the cheese.” After a bit of work with a string-cheese lasso (“Did I catch you at a bad time?”), the redoubtable rodent has saved both the Cheese—part of the latter, viewed through a round hole, doing double duty as the moon in a final nighttime cityscape—and the day. Sharp-eyed young sleuths will spot plenty of clocks and other sight gags to go with the jokes and tropes (“Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No! It’s…”) Tahl has woven into the laconic narrative. Novelty elements include a pasted-in newspaper, the two-flap telephone booth in which Supermouse dons his costume, and small flaps that double as trapdoors through which our hero tumbles. Much of the story is printed on and under the large flaps, a clever device that also makes loss of flaps particularly compromising.
A brief but tasty morsel. (Novelty. 5-7)Pub Date: Oct. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-68010-262-8
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
Not terribly remarkable, but the series has lots of growing room.
Second-grade twins prepare to leave the country, but not without first solving a time-sensitive mystery.
Ella and Ethan Briar are devastated by their parents’ announcement that the family is leaving their beloved hometown. Mrs. Briar has accepted a new job as a travel writer, a job that will send the family to new places all over the globe on a weekly basis. In an attempt to soothe the twins’ unhappiness about the move (“What about school? And soccer?” they ask), their grandfather—a retired, globe-trotting archaeologist himself—gives each a special gift for their travels. Mystery-writing Ella gets a journal; Ethan gets a special gold coin. On their last morning in town, Ethan realizes that his gold coin is missing—and they only have a few hours before they have to leave for the airport. While their grandfather does their chores, the twins methodically determine when Ethan last had the coin—the previous day—and make a list of places he visited to retrace his steps. This allows the twins to say goodbye to friendly faces throughout the town. This series-launching installment’s light on mystery, but it’s welcoming and accessible through expressive, frequent illustrations. The Mystery of the Mosaic, publishing simultaneously, takes the kids to Venice for their first overseas adventure.
Not terribly remarkable, but the series has lots of growing room. (Mystery. 5-7)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4424-9719-1
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 28, 2014
A disappointment from a noted writer in an era when outstanding early readers abound.
The Big Something doesn’t end up amounting to much in this lackluster beginning reader.
As the first in the planned Fiercely and Friends series, the text amounts to more exposition than narrative substance. Jilli’s dog Fiercely digs a hole under a fence, and though she frets that he is “digging straight down to China” he ends up in the neighboring yard. Peeping through a hole in the fence, Jilli and Jim (children will ask whether he's her friend or her brother—the text is unclear) see workers “building a Big Red Something.” Also in the next yard is a mysterious woman wearing a witch’s hat and standing on a ladder to paint ice-cream cones and gumdrops on the structure’s walls, making it akin to the witch’s house in "Hansel and Gretel." Curious, Jilli and Jim go to a shed to don disguises (and pause to eat gummy bears stuck to its floor). Then they use a gummy bear to entice Fiercely to return, which provokes the painting woman to come talk with them. Lo and behold, she isn’t a witch, but Ms. Berry, “the nicest teacher.” She tells the children that The Big Red Something is a “new school” and they follow her into the yard to help her paint. Palmisciano’s watercolor illustrations visually describe the text but stop short of adding engaging detail or expansion.
A disappointment from a noted writer in an era when outstanding early readers abound. (Early reader. 5-7)Pub Date: July 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-24459-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 29, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2012
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