It’s 1935 and Jon Jeffers is terribly lonely. He lives with his mother and father, who is a lighthouse keeper on a tiny island off the coast of San Francisco; his only friend is his dog, Smacks. If only he could fly, he could escape the forsaken pile of rocks and ghosts of shipwrecked sailors said to haunt the place. When a mysterious magician appears on the beach, he consents to teach Jon to fly if he swears to keep the secret of how to concentrate brain cells to levitate. But his flying gets out of control when the crew on a fishing trawler spots Jon and think he’s a space alien. That leads to an investigation by the Coast Guard and ultimately sends Jon to the White House, where he proves to President Roosevelt, Eleanor, and the press that he can indeed fly. But he won’t reveal how because if he breaks his oath not to tell, he risks being boiled in dragon’s bile or having his toes nailed to a shark’s back. Using telepathy, Jon desperately summons the magician, who cures him, in more ways than one. Despite the appealing, small page size and the spacious layout and type, the beginning is tedious, the plot needs humor, and the tone smacks of a dime novel. The intriguing title suggests a fascinating story and while the premise has the right elements, the writing lacks flow and dynamics (aero or otherwise). The few touches of cleverness can’t rescue the message, “Be careful what you wish for.” It doesn’t fly. (Fiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: May 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-15-216529-0
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2002
Alert readers will find the implicit morals: know your audience, mostly, but also never underestimate the power of “rock”...
The theme of persistence (for better or worse) links four tales of magic, trickery, and near disasters.
Lachenmeyer freely borrows familiar folkloric elements, subjecting them to mildly comical twists. In the nearly wordless “Hip Hop Wish,” a frog inadvertently rubs a magic lamp and finds itself saddled with an importunate genie eager to shower it with inappropriate goods and riches. In the title tale, an increasingly annoyed music-hating witch transforms a persistent minstrel into a still-warbling cow, horse, sheep, goat, pig, duck, and rock in succession—then is horrified to catch herself humming a tune. Athesius the sorcerer outwits Warthius, a rival trying to steal his spells via a parrot, by casting silly ones in Ig-pay Atin-lay in the third episode, and in the finale, a painter’s repeated efforts to create a flattering portrait of an ogre king nearly get him thrown into a dungeon…until he suddenly understands what an ogre’s idea of “flattering” might be. The narratives, dialogue, and sound effects leave plenty of elbow room in Blocker’s big, brightly colored panels for the expressive animal and human(ish) figures—most of the latter being light skinned except for the golden genie, the blue ogre, and several people of color in the “Sorcerer’s New Pet.”
Alert readers will find the implicit morals: know your audience, mostly, but also never underestimate the power of “rock” music. (Graphic short stories. 8-10)Pub Date: June 18, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-59643-750-0
Page Count: 112
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2019
McDonald’s irrepressible third-grader (Judy Moody Gets Famous, 2001, etc.) takes a few false steps before hitting full stride. This time, not only has her genius little brother Stink submitted a competing entry in the Crazy Strips Band-Aid design contest, but in the wake of her science teacher’s heads-up about rainforest destruction and endangered animals, she sees every member of her family using rainforest products. It’s all more than enough to put her in a Mood, which gets her in trouble at home for letting Stink’s pet toad, Toady, go free, and at school for surreptitiously collecting all the pencils (made from rainforest cedar) in class. And to top it off, Stink’s Crazy Strips entry wins a prize, while she gets . . . a certificate. Chronicled amusingly in Reynolds’s frequent ink-and-tea drawings, Judy goes from pillar to post—but she justifies the pencil caper convincingly enough to spark a bottle drive that nets her and her classmates not only a hundred seedling trees for Costa Rica, but the coveted school Giraffe Award (given to those who stick their necks out), along with T-shirts and ice cream coupons. Judy’s growing corps of fans will crow “Rare!” right along with her. (Fiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-7636-1446-7
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2002
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