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COUNTING FEATHERS

Name: COUNTING FEATHERS
Author: Al Simmons
ISBN: 1-56352-441-4

by Al Simmons & illustrated by Brian Floca ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 23, 1997

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A boy describes his collection of feathers to an inexplicably engrossed girl. Adapted from the author's song, ``I Collect Feathers, I Collect Rocks,'' to picture-book form, the story is told in banal rhyme: ``I'm counting feathers two by two; I've got so many more to do. I bet you I could fill a truck! Hey, look at this one—thank you, Duck!'' After a sneeze rearranges the feathers, the boy, about eight, switches to collecting rocks, and on the last page, finds in postage stamps the perfect collectible. Floca's ink-and-watercolor illustrations enliven many of the scenes with humorous details—e.g., a giant ladder leading up to drawers that store the collection—and occasionally steal the show: Posters in the boy's room, showing his range of interests from Stonehenge to icebergs, convey the character in more concise and interesting terms than those found in text. (Picture book. 5-7)

Pub Date: Oct. 23, 1997

ISBN: 1-56352-441-4

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Longstreet

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1997

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

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NOT A BOX

by Antoinette Portis & illustrated by Antoinette Portis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 1, 2006

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Dedicated “to children everywhere sitting in cardboard boxes,” this elemental debut depicts a bunny with big, looping ears demonstrating to a rather thick, unseen questioner (“Are you still standing around in that box?”) that what might look like an ordinary carton is actually a race car, a mountain, a burning building, a spaceship or anything else the imagination might dream up. Portis pairs each question and increasingly emphatic response with a playscape of Crockett Johnson–style simplicity, digitally drawn with single red and black lines against generally pale color fields. Appropriately bound in brown paper, this makes its profound point more directly than such like-themed tales as Marisabina Russo’s Big Brown Box (2000) or Dana Kessimakis Smith’s Brave Spaceboy (2005). (Picture book. 5-7)

Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2006

ISBN: 0-06-112322-6

Page Count: 32

Publisher: HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2006

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
NOT-A-BOX CITY
by Antoinette Portis ; illustrated by Antoinette Portis

- BOOK REVIEW
A SEED GROWS
by Antoinette Portis ; illustrated by Antoinette Portis

- BOOK REVIEW
A NEW GREEN DAY
by Antoinette Portis ; illustrated by Antoinette Portis

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SEE PIP POINT

From the Adventures of Otto series

by David Milgrim & illustrated by David Milgrim ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2003

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In his third beginning reader about Otto the robot, Milgrim (See Otto, 2002, etc.) introduces another new friend for Otto, a little mouse named Pip. The simple plot involves a large balloon that Otto kindly shares with Pip after the mouse has a rather funny pointing attack. (Pip seems to be in that I-point-and-I-want-it phase common with one-year-olds.) The big purple balloon is large enough to carry Pip up and away over the clouds, until Pip runs into Zee the bee. (“Oops, there goes Pip.”) Otto flies a plane up to rescue Pip (“Hurry, Otto, Hurry”), but they crash (and splash) in front of some hippos with another big balloon, and the story ends as it begins, with a droll “See Pip point.” Milgrim again succeeds in the difficult challenge of creating a real, funny story with just a few simple words. His illustrations utilize lots of motion and basic geometric shapes with heavy black outlines, all against pastel backgrounds with text set in an extra-large typeface. Emergent readers will like the humor in little Pip’s pointed requests, and more engaging adventures for Otto and Pip will be welcome additions to the limited selection of funny stories for children just beginning to read. (Easy reader. 5-7)