An early chapter book with a pleasantly recognizable cast of characters that, disappointingly, misses the opportunity to...
Daisy, a collector of admirable words, wants to find the perfect word to give her teacher as a gift.
An early-grade primary-school student, Daisy has lots of favorite words she collects in her notebook. After the children find out their gentle teacher is getting married, they all want to bring her gifts. Daisy’s pleasure in her search, though, is complicated by Samantha, her next-door neighbor and classmate she finds annoying. An otherwise congenial child, Daisy does whatever she can to avoid Samantha—including cutting through shrubbery to meet her friend Emma and pulling up her hood and singing as she hurries by Samantha’s house. All of this carefully planned avoidance of Samantha seems to be leading up to Daisy's recognition of her own subtle bullying and perhaps her selection of a perfect word like “friend” that represents this understanding. Instead, her frequently depicted problems with Samantha are never directly addressed. The perfect word Daisy finally chooses, “giggle,” does elicit a pleasing compliment from Samantha that may hint at an improvement in their relationship. Simple, charming illustrations appear on almost every spread; pages feature wide spacing and limited text, an inviting presentation for very young independent readers.
An early chapter book with a pleasantly recognizable cast of characters that, disappointingly, misses the opportunity to gently address a pertinent issue. (Fiction. 5-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-55453-645-0
Page Count: 88
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: Feb. 4, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2012
Emergent readers will like the humor in little Pip’s pointed requests, and more engaging adventures for Otto and Pip will be...
In his third beginning reader about Otto the robot, Milgrim (See Otto, 2002, etc.) introduces another new friend for Otto, a little mouse named Pip.
The simple plot involves a large balloon that Otto kindly shares with Pip after the mouse has a rather funny pointing attack. (Pip seems to be in that I-point-and-I-want-it phase common with one-year-olds.) The big purple balloon is large enough to carry Pip up and away over the clouds, until Pip runs into Zee the bee. (“Oops, there goes Pip.”) Otto flies a plane up to rescue Pip (“Hurry, Otto, Hurry”), but they crash (and splash) in front of some hippos with another big balloon, and the story ends as it begins, with a droll “See Pip point.” Milgrim again succeeds in the difficult challenge of creating a real, funny story with just a few simple words. His illustrations utilize lots of motion and basic geometric shapes with heavy black outlines, all against pastel backgrounds with text set in an extra-large typeface.
Emergent readers will like the humor in little Pip’s pointed requests, and more engaging adventures for Otto and Pip will be welcome additions to the limited selection of funny stories for children just beginning to read. (Easy reader. 5-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-689-85116-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2003
Very young gardeners will need more information, but for certain picky eaters, the suggested strategy just might work.
A young spinach hater becomes a spinach lover after she has to grow her own in a class garden.
Unable to trade away the seed packet she gets from her teacher for tomatoes, cukes or anything else more palatable, Sylvia reluctantly plants and nurtures a pot of the despised veggie then transplants it outside in early spring. By the end of school, only the plot’s lettuce, radishes and spinach are actually ready to eat (talk about a badly designed class project!)—and Sylvia, once she nerves herself to take a nibble, discovers that the stuff is “not bad.” She brings home an armful and enjoys it from then on in every dish: “And that was the summer Sylvia Spivens said yes to spinach.” Raff uses unlined brushwork to give her simple cartoon illustrations a pleasantly freehand, airy look, and though Pryor skips over the (literally, for spinach) gritty details in both the story and an afterword, she does cover gardening basics in a simple and encouraging way.
Very young gardeners will need more information, but for certain picky eaters, the suggested strategy just might work. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Nov. 6, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-9836615-1-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Readers to Eaters
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2012
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
