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
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This story covers the few days preceding the much-anticipated Midnight Zombie Walk, when Stink and company will take to the...
An all-zombie-all-the-time zombiefest, featuring a bunch of grade-school kids, including protagonist Stink and his happy comrades.
This story covers the few days preceding the much-anticipated Midnight Zombie Walk, when Stink and company will take to the streets in the time-honored stiff-armed, stiff-legged fashion. McDonald signals her intent on page one: “Stink and Webster were playing Attack of the Knitting Needle Zombies when Fred Zombie’s eye fell off and rolled across the floor.” The farce is as broad as the Atlantic, with enough spookiness just below the surface to provide the all-important shivers. Accompanied by Reynolds’ drawings—dozens of scene-setting gems with good, creepy living dead—McDonald shapes chapters around zombie motifs: making zombie costumes, eating zombie fare at school, reading zombie books each other to reach the one-million-minutes-of-reading challenge. When the zombie walk happens, it delivers solid zombie awfulness. McDonald’s feel-good tone is deeply encouraging for readers to get up and do this for themselves because it looks like so much darned fun, while the sub-message—that reading grows “strong hearts and minds,” as well as teeth and bones—is enough of a vital interest to the story line to be taken at face value.Pub Date: March 13, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5692-8
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
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