Curtis is a walking, talking lighthouse-headed robot who protects the coast of Robot City with his trusty human crew, Ali and Steve. When an oil rig out at sea catches fire, Curtis rushes to the rescue and then investigates the fishy mystery of the causes of this near disaster. Mystery is the main focus of the equally engaging noirish tale of Rod Robot and his human detective partner, Mike, featured in Rust Attack, which publishes simultaneously (ISBN: 978-0-7636-4594-6). Award-winning picture-book author and illustrator Collicutt plays to his strengths with his new graphic adventures. Though the illustrations are a bit on the dark side, they are full of retro–comic-book–style action and classic movie-serial banter. The robot characters look straight out of ’50s sci-fi movies, but they are nicely integrated into a multiracial cast of human characters. Good, low-violence fun for slightly grown-up fans of the author’s machine-centric picture books. It’s likely a good thing there are more volumes to follow, including a guide to the robots of Robot City and a book of posters. Multiples are not a bad idea. (Graphic fiction. 8-11)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-7636-4120-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Templar/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2009
However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the...
At a time when death has become an acceptable, even voguish subject in children's fiction, Natalie Babbitt comes through with a stylistic gem about living forever.
Protected Winnie, the ten-year-old heroine, is not immortal, but when she comes upon young Jesse Tuck drinking from a secret spring in her parents' woods, she finds herself involved with a family who, having innocently drunk the same water some 87 years earlier, haven't aged a moment since. Though the mood is delicate, there is no lack of action, with the Tucks (previously suspected of witchcraft) now pursued for kidnapping Winnie; Mae Tuck, the middle aged mother, striking and killing a stranger who is onto their secret and would sell the water; and Winnie taking Mae's place in prison so that the Tucks can get away before she is hanged from the neck until....? Though Babbitt makes the family a sad one, most of their reasons for discontent are circumstantial and there isn't a great deal of wisdom to be gleaned from their fate or Winnie's decision not to share it.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1975
ISBN: 0312369816
Page Count: 164
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1975
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere.
This book is buzzing with trivia.
Follow a swarm of bees as they leave a beekeeper’s apiary in search of a new home. As the scout bees traverse the fields, readers are provided with a potpourri of facts and statements about bees. The information is scattered—much like the scout bees—and as a result, both the nominal plot and informational content are tissue-thin. There are some interesting facts throughout the book, but many pieces of trivia are too, well trivial, to prove useful. For example, as the bees travel, readers learn that “onion flowers are round and fluffy” and “fennel is a plant that is used in cooking.” Other facts are oversimplified and as a result are not accurate. For example, monofloral honey is defined as “made by bees who visit just one kind of flower” with no acknowledgment of the fact that bees may range widely, and swarm activity is described as a springtime event, when it can also occur in summer and early fall. The information in the book, such as species identification and measurement units, is directed toward British readers. The flat, thin-lined artwork does little to enhance the story, but an “I spy” game challenging readers to find a specific bee throughout is amusing.
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere. (Informational picture book. 8-10)Pub Date: May 18, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-500-65265-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
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