This wacky, wild and sometimes witty collection of verse and illustrations will not disappoint Brown’s many fans. There’s plenty of wordplay here, and even some tongue twisters (“Stealthy thieves / in thick wool caps / collect antiques / in thick cloth sacks”). Fourteen brief poems share similar cadences and employ mainly rhymed couplets and some near rhymes (“The mark of our intelligence / is how we treat the elephants”). The acrylic paintings that accompany the poems are done in appropriately vegetal, soupy hues and feature the illustrator’s characteristic childlike perspective and sense of fancy. A tattletale “Egret” spills the speaker’s secret to a tree full of other birds, beaks all flapping to pass the gossip along. Beyond whimsy, there is no apparent thematic unity to the collection, but Brown’s playfulness with language provides food for thought as well as “soup for breakfast,” and may inspire readers to attempt their own terse verse. (Poetry. 4-8)
Pub Date: Nov. 10, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-618-91641-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2008
This heavily earnest celebration of multi-ethnicity combines full-bleed paintings of smiling children, viewed through a golden haze dancing, playing, planting seedlings, and the like, with a hyperbolic, disconnected text—``Dark as leopard spots, light as sand,/Children buzz with laughter that kisses our land...''— printed in wavy lines. Literal-minded readers may have trouble with the author's premise, that ``Children come in all the colors of the earth and sky and sea'' (green? blue?), and most of the children here, though of diverse and mixed racial ancestry, wear shorts and T-shirts and seem to be about the same age. Hamanaka has chosen a worthy theme, but she develops it without the humor or imagination that animates her Screen of Frogs (1993). (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-688-11131-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1994
Girl science power and new friendships make for a good combination.
In Fliess’ update, Mary is an inventive scientist, but she’s a lonely one.
“Mary had a little lab. / She tested and created. / While other kids were at the park, / she built and calculated.” The window of her lab provides views of the kids’ fun, and they inspire her to make a friend. Literally. She bikes to a farm for a snip of wool and heads back to use her latest invention: the Sheepinator. The resultant pet is everything she could hope for, not only providing companionship, but also helping out around the house and lab. And when he follows her to school, the kids all ask for their own wooly friends. What could possibly go wrong? Bouloubasis’ hysterical illustrations show the chaos that ensues, but the scientist and her new human friends think of a clever solution that leaves the whole town satisfied…and warm. Fliess’ verses include enough of the original poem (but tweaked) to tickle readers’ funny bones, and the rhyme and rhythm are spot-on. Mary is a wild-haired white redhead who is depicted as safety-conscious (bike helmet, ear protection, rubber gloves, etc.); the other kids are a diverse group. Most diverse (and somewhat distracting) of all are the noses on their faces—all sizes, shapes, and colors.
Girl science power and new friendships make for a good combination. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-8075-4982-7
Page Count: 37
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: Jan. 21, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
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