Just because new readers will read just about anything they can decode, doesn’t mean they should have to. This newest offering in Aladdin’s Ready-for-Chapters has many of the hallmarks of a successful tale for new readers: comical storyline and wacky illustrations, generous font, brief chapters, and a heroine who stands up to a bully. Unfortunately, there’s not much to the story. Marlon is on vacation where she hears about a camp for pirates. Her distracted mother signs her up and, through some mildly humorous situations, Marlon learns to be a pirate. When she returns to school, no one believes her pirate camp stories until Peg Leg and Shark Bait see her distress flag, show up, and vouch for her. Though the illustrations are amusing and exaggerated, the story is simply flat. The attempts at pirate dialogue are confusing. “We’ll save that for tomorrow. But today ye’re swinging over to that there boat. ‘Carz sometimes ye’ll have to board another ship and do battle.’ ” Huh? One can almost hear the pitter-patter of second-grade feet up to the teacher for an interpretation of that. Readers who are making the transition to chapter books and who like funny stories might find the work of Pinkwater, Pilkey, and Scieszka more captivating. (Fiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: June 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-84384-4
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2002
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Trickling, bubbling, swirling, rushing, a river flows down from its mountain beginnings, past peaceful country and bustling city on its way to the sea. Hooper (The Drop in My Drink, 1998, etc.) artfully evokes the water’s changing character as it transforms from “milky-cold / rattling-bold” to a wide, slow “sliding past mudflats / looping through marshes” to the end of its journey. Willey, best known for illustrating Geraldine McCaughrean’s spectacular folk-tale collections, contributes finely detailed scenes crafted in shimmering, intricate blues and greens, capturing mountain’s chill, the bucolic serenity of passing pastures, and a sense of mystery in the water’s shadowy depths. Though Hooper refers to “the cans and cartons / and bits of old wood” being swept along, there’s no direct conservation agenda here (for that, see Debby Atwell’s River, 1999), just appreciation for the river’s beauty and being. (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: June 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7636-0792-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2000
An uncomplicated opener, with some funny bits and a clear but not heavy agenda.
Hank Zipzer, poster boy for dyslexic middle graders everywhere, stars in a new prequel series highlighting second-grade trials and triumphs.
Hank’s hopes of playing Aqua Fly, a comic-book character, in the upcoming class play founder when, despite plenty of coaching and preparation, he freezes up during tryouts. He is not particularly comforted when his sympathetic teacher adds a nonspeaking role as a bookmark to the play just for him. Following the pattern laid down in his previous appearances as an older child, he gets plenty of help and support from understanding friends (including Ashley Wong, a new apartment-house neighbor). He even manages to turn lemons into lemonade with a quick bit of improv when Nick “the Tick” McKelty, the sneering classmate who took his preferred role, blanks on his lines during the performance. As the aforementioned bully not only chokes in the clutch and gets a demeaning nickname, but is fat, boastful and eats like a pig, the authors’ sensitivity is rather one-sided. Still, Hank has a winning way of bouncing back from adversity, and like the frequent black-and-white line-and-wash drawings, the typeface is designed with easy legibility in mind.
An uncomplicated opener, with some funny bits and a clear but not heavy agenda. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-448-48239-2
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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