A witty alternative to Richard Scarry’s classic visual inventories or the simpler I Spy challenges.
Trying to find his false teeth, Alfred Crabtree is forced to organize his stuff. And he really has a lot of stuff.
Strewn in the hundreds across large spreads and even one double gatefold, Alfred’s possessions are easy enough to recognize since they’re drawn in a simple cartoon style and conveniently labeled. Categorizing, however, really isn’t his strong suit—so even browsers who aren’t particularly sharp-eyed will have no trouble noticing, for instance, the traffic cone in his row of “Hats & Helmets” or the hot-dog bun amid “Tools & Utensils.” Creative labeling ranging from rhymed combinations of favorite foods (“Spam and a yam,” “Hash stew with cashews”) to a set of flint spear points dubbed “old tools” and, in a movie reference less likely to be caught by children than by their parents, a “stinkin’ badge” will also produce chuckles. Following one spread of “Broken Things” and another of ambiguous items headed “I Don’t Know What These Things Are,” Alfred, exhausted, gets a savvy suggestion from his sister that ends his search. That search, at least: The rear endpapers are a bulletin board of other misplaced items that may tempt viewers to go back and find them.
A witty alternative to Richard Scarry’s classic visual inventories or the simpler I Spy challenges. (huge foldout poster) (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-936365-82-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: McSweeney's McMullens
Review Posted Online: Oct. 4, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2013
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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