Cooperation, teamwork and creative problem solving taken to new levels make this a great choice, no matter what the season.
Most snow-themed books celebrate a day off from school, but Reid’s latest just may have kids hoping for their own snow-filled recess.
Scott and Jim wake up to snow. The fact that school is not called off does not blunt their enthusiasm one bit. Once at school, both occupy their desks, but their thoughts are already outside. And when the recess bell finally rings, Scott works on creating the “World’s Greatest Snowman,” while Jim constructs an “indestructible Snow Fortress of Doom.” Trouble is, neither is very successful—Scott’s one snowman turns into a team, each better than the previous one, while meanwhile the rest of the schoolyard becomes a snow-grabbing melee as all the children run out of snow at the same time. Jim narrowly manages to save Scott’s snowmen from the fracas. At lunchtime, the two hatch a plan to combine their ideas and their snow. Their solution is so cool that the whole schoolyard pitches in to help create “The World’s Greatest Totally Massive Snowman Fort.” Reid’s trademark Plasticine artwork gives wonderful depth and texture to the pages, while the details she includes are impressive, a chain-link fence and superhero pajamas among them. Black-and-white ink-and-watercolor panels keep the focus on the main illustrations while also rounding out the story.
Cooperation, teamwork and creative problem solving taken to new levels make this a great choice, no matter what the season. (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-8075-6492-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2011
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An uncomplicated opener, with some funny bits and a clear but not heavy agenda.
Hank Zipzer, poster boy for dyslexic middle graders everywhere, stars in a new prequel series highlighting second-grade trials and triumphs.
Hank’s hopes of playing Aqua Fly, a comic-book character, in the upcoming class play founder when, despite plenty of coaching and preparation, he freezes up during tryouts. He is not particularly comforted when his sympathetic teacher adds a nonspeaking role as a bookmark to the play just for him. Following the pattern laid down in his previous appearances as an older child, he gets plenty of help and support from understanding friends (including Ashley Wong, a new apartment-house neighbor). He even manages to turn lemons into lemonade with a quick bit of improv when Nick “the Tick” McKelty, the sneering classmate who took his preferred role, blanks on his lines during the performance. As the aforementioned bully not only chokes in the clutch and gets a demeaning nickname, but is fat, boastful and eats like a pig, the authors’ sensitivity is rather one-sided. Still, Hank has a winning way of bouncing back from adversity, and like the frequent black-and-white line-and-wash drawings, the typeface is designed with easy legibility in mind.
An uncomplicated opener, with some funny bits and a clear but not heavy agenda. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-448-48239-2
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2014
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