A quirky tale that’s best suited for reading aloud.
An Irish girl must confront her fear of dogs in Young’s illustrated children’s holiday story.
Abby doesn’t mind Halloween, but she doesn’t want to go trick-or-treating because some people let their dogs out on their porches. However, Olivia, her identical twin, doesn’t mind this. While Olivia and the girls’ mother are out on Halloween night, they find someone giving away a litter of puppies. They come home with a small white West Highland terrier they’ve named Boo, and Abby panics and hides in her room. That night, she even has nightmares. But one day, she’s left alone with Boo and has to feed him. This makes her remember a traumatic event when she was younger: an encounter with a dog that growled in her face. But when she successfully feeds Boo without incident, it changes everything. The bundle of fur becomes her trusted friend and helps her to get over her fears. This meandering tale has some poetic turns of phrase, and Abby’s voice feels very adult in tone, as though she’s recalling events of her childhood. The unusual sentence structure can be challenging at times, which may stymie newly independent readers: “I was chill with Halloween, just not barking four-legged creatures behind doors, some even on front steps unchained.” There are several asides that add flavor to the story but feel somewhat digressive, as when Abby notes that dogs order their day “around eating and going for a walk (not unlike my grandpa).” Quiroz’s highly textured full-color paintings realistically capture the family saga, revealing Boo’s exuberance and Abby’s melancholy. A final image of the pair snuggling is a pleasant snapshot of family joy and calm.
A quirky tale that’s best suited for reading aloud.Pub Date: Sept. 11, 2023
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 29
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for...
A gentle voice and familiar pitfalls characterize this tale of a boy navigating the risky road to responsibility.
Gavin is new to his neighborhood and Carver Elementary. He likes his new friend, Richard, and has a typically contentious relationship with his older sister, Danielle. When Gavin’s desire to impress Richard sets off a disastrous chain of events, the boy struggles to evade responsibility for his actions. “After all, it isn’t his fault that Danielle’s snow globe got broken. Sure, he shouldn’t have been in her room—but then, she shouldn’t be keeping candy in her room to tempt him. Anybody would be tempted. Anybody!” opines Gavin once he learns the punishment for his crime. While Gavin has a charming Everyboy quality, and his aversion to Aunt Myrtle’s yapping little dog rings true, little about Gavin distinguishes him from other trouble-prone protagonists. He is, regrettably, forgettable. Coretta Scott King Honor winner English (Francie, 1999) is a teacher whose storytelling usually benefits from her day job. Unfortunately, the pizzazz of classroom chaos is largely absent from this series opener.
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for subsequent volumes. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: Dec. 17, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-547-97044-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2013
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look...
Winning actually isn’t everything, as jazz-happy Rooster learns when he goes up against the legendary likes of Mules Davis and Ella Finchgerald at the barnyard talent show.
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look good—particularly after his “ ‘Hen from Ipanema’ [makes] / the barnyard chickies swoon.”—but in the end the competition is just too stiff. No matter: A compliment from cool Mules and the conviction that he still has the world’s best band soon puts the strut back in his stride. Alexander’s versifying isn’t always in tune (“So, he went to see his cousin, / a pianist of great fame…”), and despite his moniker Rooster plays an electric bass in Bower’s canted country scenes. Children are unlikely to get most of the jokes liberally sprinkled through the text, of course, so the adults sharing it with them should be ready to consult the backmatter, which consists of closing notes on jazz’s instruments, history and best-known musicians.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-58536-688-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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