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DAISY DAWSON IS ON HER WAY!

Daisy, small for her age, has a big imagination, one that often leads her to dawdling during flights of fancy. One bright morning as she meanders her way to school, she frees a yellow butterfly from a spider’s web. Before it flutters away, the butterfly gently kisses her cheek. Daisy does not trust her own ears when, within minutes, she can suddenly understand the words of her favorite stray hound, who tells her his name is Boom. Now, with the newfound conversation their bond grows beyond the sandwiches she has always given him at lunch. When Boom is captured by the dogcatcher, Daisy joins forces with a gentle horse, a chatty squirrel and a snooty cat to save him. Things get tense when their ruckus awakens the mean kennel owner, and confusion ensues as they discover that Boom is already gone. When Boom is later found to be quite safe, Daisy learns that living creatures are full of surprises. Meserve’s abundant comical sketches add bounce to this already-sweet wisp of a tale that gladdens the heart. (Fiction. 6-9)

Pub Date: March 1, 2008

ISBN: 978-0-7636-3740-8

Page Count: 112

Publisher: Candlewick

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2008

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DIARY OF A SPIDER

The wriggly narrator of Diary of a Worm (2003) puts in occasional appearances, but it’s his arachnid buddy who takes center stage here, with terse, tongue-in-cheek comments on his likes (his close friend Fly, Charlotte’s Web), his dislikes (vacuums, people with big feet), nervous encounters with a huge Daddy Longlegs, his extended family—which includes a Grandpa more than willing to share hard-won wisdom (The secret to a long, happy life: “Never fall asleep in a shoe.”)—and mishaps both at spider school and on the human playground. Bliss endows his garden-dwellers with faces and the odd hat or other accessory, and creates cozy webs or burrows colorfully decorated with corks, scraps, plastic toys and other human detritus. Spider closes with the notion that we could all get along, “just like me and Fly,” if we but got to know one another. Once again, brilliantly hilarious. (Picture book. 6-8)

Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2005

ISBN: 0-06-000153-4

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Joanna Cotler/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2005

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HENRY AND MUDGE AND THE STARRY NIGHT

From the Henry and Mudge series

Rylant (Henry and Mudge and the Sneaky Crackers, 1998, etc.) slips into a sentimental mode for this latest outing of the boy and his dog, as she sends Mudge and Henry and his parents off on a camping trip. Each character is attended to, each personality sketched in a few brief words: Henry's mother is the camping veteran with outdoor savvy; Henry's father doesn't know a tent stake from a marshmallow fork, but he's got a guitar for campfire entertainment; and the principals are their usual ready-for-fun selves. There are sappy moments, e.g., after an evening of star- gazing, Rylant sends the family off to bed with: ``Everyone slept safe and sound and there were no bears, no scares. Just the clean smell of trees . . . and wonderful green dreams.'' With its nice tempo, the story is as toasty as its campfire and swaddled in Stevenson's trusty artwork. (Fiction. 6-8)

Pub Date: April 1, 1998

ISBN: 0-689-81175-6

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1998

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