A success on two levels that’s worthy of repeat readings.
A story about a boy and his gecko helps beginning readers develop confidence and fluency.
Relatively complex text on the left-hand page paired with two lines of simpler text in a larger font on the right-hand page invites shared reading between caregiver and learner (as explained in a foreword). Challenging words highlighted in bold on the left are used again on the right, reinforcing the concept and encouraging success. The text reads smoothly whether children are reading just the right-hand page or hearing and reading the entire story. Plot is not sacrificed to this instructional format. When Matt, a brown-skinned boy with straight black hair, sneaks his new pet into school, his classmates, a diverse group, display a range of reactions to the predictable chaos that ensues while at the same time supporting their friend in his secret. Kim at first holds Kecko and manages to keep from shrieking when his tail breaks off in her hand. (Matt explains gecko physiology to reassure her.) A boy’s response to a gecko on the wall is simply “cool.” These somewhat stereotypical responses are balanced by all the children’s efforts to keep their teacher, a light-skinned woman, from discovering the escapee. Tension builds when Kecko lands in Mrs. Jackson’s hair and then when she just barely avoids sitting on him. When she finely learns the cause of the uproar, she turns the surprise visitor into a teaching opportunity.
A success on two levels that’s worthy of repeat readings. (Early reader. 5-8)Pub Date: June 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-60115-304-3
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Treasure Bay
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
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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