A rather lackluster story about the bottomless pit that is one boy’s stomach, gains some momentum from Martchenko’s (Makeup Mess, not reviewed, etc.) hoppin’ watercolors. Samuel woke up hungry, really hungry. He has already made significant headway through his pillow, while he was asleep. His mother plies him with cereal and stacks of pancakes and more pancakes and more cereal and a roasted chicken. But Samuel’s demand for seven roasted chickens pulls her up short. No more food until lunchtime, she declares. Samuel heads for the backyard to gnash and wail and cry starvation until his brother alerts him to a pie-eating contest at the park. (Martchenko does a nice job of calling up what looks like Vancouver, British Columbia.) Hardly surprising, Samuel eats a lumberjack, a fireman, and a construction worker under the table, before returning home to a pie his mother had made for his lunch, whereupon, also unsurprisingly, Samuel gets a little green around the gills and slumps to the floor. Enter his younger brother, ready to take on all comers. No twist is tendered to give this old tale some new tension, so the story serves only as Muzak to Martchenko’s sight gags, burly chowhounds, and a boy whose stomach was always bigger than his eyes. (Picture book 3-6)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-439-18773-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2002
A nice but not requisite purchase.
A retelling of the classic fairy tale in board-book format and with a Mexican setting.
Though simplified for a younger audience, the text still relates the well-known tale: mean-spirited stepmother, spoiled stepsisters, overworked Cinderella, fairy godmother, glass slipper, charming prince, and, of course, happily-ever-after. What gives this book its flavor is the artwork. Within its Mexican setting, the characters are olive-skinned and dark-haired. Cultural references abound, as when a messenger comes carrying a banner announcing a “FIESTA” in beautiful papel picado. Cinderella is the picture of beauty, with her hair up in ribbons and flowers and her typically Mexican many-layered white dress. The companion volume, Snow White, set in Japan and illustrated by Misa Saburi, follows the same format. The simplified text tells the story of the beautiful princess sent to the forest by her wicked stepmother to be “done away with,” the dwarves that take her in, and, eventually, the happily-ever-after ending. Here too, what gives the book its flavor is the artwork. The characters wear traditional clothing, and the dwarves’ house has the requisite shoji screens, tatami mats and cherry blossoms in the garden. The puzzling question is, why the board-book presentation? Though the text is simplified, it’s still beyond the board-book audience, and the illustrations deserve full-size books.
A nice but not requisite purchase. (Board book/fairy tale. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-7915-8
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A young boy wonders aloud to a rabbit friend what he will be when he grows up and imagines some outrageous choices. “Puddle stomper,” “bubble gum popper,” “mixing-bowl licker,” “baby-sis soother” are just some of the 24 inspiringly creative vocations Spinelli’s young dreamer envisions in this pithy rhymed account. Aided by Liao’s cleverly integrated full-bleed mixed-media illustrations, which radiate every hue of the rainbow, and dynamic typesetting with words that swoop and dive, the author’s perspective on this adult-inspired question yields some refreshingly child-oriented answers. Given such an irresistible array of options—“So many jobs! / They’re all such fun”—the boy in the end decides, in an exuberant double gatefold, “I’m going to choose… / EVERY ONE!”—a conclusion befitting a generation expected to have more than six careers each. Without parents or peers around to corral this carefree child’s dreams, the possibilities of being whatever one wants appear both limitless and attainable. An inspired take on a timeless question. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: March 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-316-16226-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2010
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