This clever home-away-home arc with a “go with the flow” twist has the added bonus of motivating readers’ engagement.
Two friends rent a sailboat, get lost, become shipwrecked, and end up on a (seemingly) deserted beach.
Bob, a Type A personality, and Joss, a classic Type B, are friends (both are white). The book opens on a beach as Bob informs Joss that he is bored. Joss suggests renting a sailboat, but Bob is hesitant, afraid they will get lost. Joss assures him they won’t. Not only do they get lost, they encounter a storm, become shipwrecked, and finally wash up on a beach. Throughout it all, their overachiever-vs.–laid-back personality differences are what drive both the plot and the humor. After the shipwreck, Bob is all about responsibility and control as he builds a shelter and tries to make a fire, while Joss is all about being in the moment as he savors a coconut and listens to the waves. Vogel’s illustrations alternate between sequential panels that emphasize the droll dialogue exchanges and single- and double-page spreads that add both setting and emotional ambiance. GPS coordinates on each verso page add a clever tangential story, and motivated readers who plot them (easily done with a computer) will get a jump on the surprise ending (as will readers who explore the illustrations very closely).
This clever home-away-home arc with a “go with the flow” twist has the added bonus of motivating readers’ engagement. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-241531-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
This story covers the few days preceding the much-anticipated Midnight Zombie Walk, when Stink and company will take to the...
An all-zombie-all-the-time zombiefest, featuring a bunch of grade-school kids, including protagonist Stink and his happy comrades.
This story covers the few days preceding the much-anticipated Midnight Zombie Walk, when Stink and company will take to the streets in the time-honored stiff-armed, stiff-legged fashion. McDonald signals her intent on page one: “Stink and Webster were playing Attack of the Knitting Needle Zombies when Fred Zombie’s eye fell off and rolled across the floor.” The farce is as broad as the Atlantic, with enough spookiness just below the surface to provide the all-important shivers. Accompanied by Reynolds’ drawings—dozens of scene-setting gems with good, creepy living dead—McDonald shapes chapters around zombie motifs: making zombie costumes, eating zombie fare at school, reading zombie books each other to reach the one-million-minutes-of-reading challenge. When the zombie walk happens, it delivers solid zombie awfulness. McDonald’s feel-good tone is deeply encouraging for readers to get up and do this for themselves because it looks like so much darned fun, while the sub-message—that reading grows “strong hearts and minds,” as well as teeth and bones—is enough of a vital interest to the story line to be taken at face value.Pub Date: March 13, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5692-8
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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