In the style of a pourquoi tale, the authors have crafted an explanation about how fireflies came to be. The one-of-a-kind squeegy bug knows he isn’t an ant, cricket, or flea. In fact, he doesn’t know what to call himself. When he meets Buzzer the Bumblebee, who has a stinger in his tail, the squeegy bug decides he would like to be a bee, too. He follows Buzzer’s advice and climbs toward the sky looking for a pair of silver wings like Buzzer’s. Caught in a rainstorm at the top of a cattail, he seeks help from the kindly caterpillar. The two travel to Haunchy the spider’s castle of webs to ask for a pair of wings, which he shapes from threads spun on his spinning wheel. It is Haunchy who points out that the bug isn’t a bumblebee and wasn’t meant to have a stinger. He pulls the brightest star from the sky, hangs it on the bug’s tail, and christens him Squeegy the Firefly, the Lamplighter of the Sky. Originally written when he was an Air Force Sergeant at the end of WWII, Martin’s (Rock It, Sock It, Number Line, p. 1128, etc.) illustrator was his brother Bernard. In this reissue, Corrigan’s illustrations are marvelously detailed, from Haunchy’s elaborate turban and king’s robe, to the acorn lantern of the top-hat-wearing caterpillar. Illustrations aside, it is plain that this was written before Martin really hit his stride with his perfectly cadenced rhymes. However, there will always be an audience for a new Bill Martin Jr., and this one fills the bill. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2001
ISBN: 1-890817-90-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2001
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The wriggly narrator of Diary of a Worm (2003) puts in occasional appearances, but it’s his arachnid buddy who takes center stage here, with terse, tongue-in-cheek comments on his likes (his close friend Fly, Charlotte’s Web), his dislikes (vacuums, people with big feet), nervous encounters with a huge Daddy Longlegs, his extended family—which includes a Grandpa more than willing to share hard-won wisdom (The secret to a long, happy life: “Never fall asleep in a shoe.”)—and mishaps both at spider school and on the human playground. Bliss endows his garden-dwellers with faces and the odd hat or other accessory, and creates cozy webs or burrows colorfully decorated with corks, scraps, plastic toys and other human detritus. Spider closes with the notion that we could all get along, “just like me and Fly,” if we but got to know one another. Once again, brilliantly hilarious. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-06-000153-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Joanna Cotler/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2005
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