Chicken is the name Jimmie Little gave himself because of the fears he developed the summer after his father was killed in a mine accident, but readers will find Jimmie is only sensible, as compared with his mother's beloved, less cautious brother Pete. For here it's not his father's but his uncle's death that is bothering Jimmie, Pete the clown having insisted on walking across a thinly iced-over fiver because of a bet in a bar. Jimmie is in the crowd watching when it happens, and though he runs to the water's edge shouting for Pete to come back, his mother's first reaction is to blame him for not making Pete stop. To make things worse, Jimmie's subsequent brooding ("Did I do enough?") offends his insensitive friend Conrad, and the two boys fight. When his mother suddenly recovers and decides to throw a family party—a sort of celebration of Pete—Jimmie is unable to join in the merriment until, drifting outside and viewing them through the picture window, he sees the fun-loving family as his mother does, unique individuals to cherish. It's a stance Byars has taken all along, cherishing the quirky traits that would be just as easy to scorn. Nevertheless, this crucial final revelation hasn't half the conviction, say, of Jimmie's earlier realization that he doesn't like Conrad. And Byars never really reconciles Pete's tragic childishness with such amusing family foibles as his mother's inept driving and her outspoken 92-year-old uncle's crotchets. Still, Jimmie's feelings throughout are represented in depth, and revealed in flashes of insight that hit the mark; and the story hums with the currents that flow between him and the others.
Pub Date: March 1, 1979
ISBN: 0064402916
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Harper & Row
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1979
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
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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