MacDonald’s (No More Nasty, 2001, etc.) dazzling verse, clever as Scheherazade, is a beautiful choreography of words. Here we have Quentin Fenton Herter Third—wonderfully staid in Potter’s (Shrinking Violet, 2001, etc.) dotty artwork, all puckered puss, spray of freckles, and enough pomade to lube a Bentley—a boy righteous and well-mannered. “He always did what he should ought / and never did what he should not.” But QFH Third has a significant other, his shadow: Quentin Fenton Herter Three, a rude boy who never knew a glass that couldn’t be spilled or an aunt who couldn’t be appalled. “And—sad but true—he never flossed!” Both boys share a longing: to be a little bit like the other, just a splash. Which they get a chance to do when QFH Third commits an unfettered sneeze that fairly blows his aunts from the tea table; he gets his walking papers and QFH Three gets a chance to strut his politesse. It’s all very merry, with the illustrations providing an unending source of enjoyment while the verse positively scoots along: “The scene was like an atom blast. / The ladies stood (like you) aghast / amid remains of their repast.” Not to mention the laughter that readers will shower down upon them. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: April 5, 2002
ISBN: 0-374-36170-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Melanie Kroupa/Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2002
Continuing to find inspiration in the work of Virginia Lee Burton, Munro Leaf and other illustrators of the past, Long (The Little Engine That Could, 2005) offers an aw-shucks friendship tale that features a small but hardworking tractor (“putt puff puttedy chuff”) with a Little Toot–style face and a big-eared young descendant of Ferdinand the bull who gets stuck in deep, gooey mud. After the big new yellow tractor, crowds of overalls-clad locals and a red fire engine all fail to pull her out, the little tractor (who had been left behind the barn to rust after the arrival of the new tractor) comes putt-puff-puttedy-chuff-ing down the hill to entice his terrified bovine buddy successfully back to dry ground. Short on internal logic but long on creamy scenes of calf and tractor either gamboling energetically with a gaggle of McCloskey-like geese through neutral-toned fields or resting peacefully in the shade of a gnarled tree (apple, not cork), the episode will certainly draw nostalgic adults. Considering the author’s track record and influences, it may find a welcome from younger audiences too. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-399-25248-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2009
SEEN & HEARD
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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