Anyone for a quick day trip to Paris? A muttered comment from hardworking Monsieur Monmouton that he needs a vacation is all the prompting his livestock needs to pile into the car. Gallic to the core, the farmer shrugs, “Eh bien, let’s go!” And they’re off: to check out the fashions on the Rue de Faubourg Saint-Honoré; drift up and down the Seine in a bateau mouche; view the city from atop the Eiffel Tower; then dance the cancan at the Follies Bergère. Stock depicts Parisian sights and streets, as well as their urbane residents, in freely brushed watercolors that expertly capture both the tale’s tongue-in-cheek tone, and the animals’ unflagging enthusiasm. The next morning, Monsieur Monmouton wearily rounds up his furred and feathered tour group, vowing never to take another holiday—but the sheep, chickens, and the rest are already nose/muzzle/beak deep in New York City travel brochures. Will young armchair tourists line up for repeat visits? Mais oui. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: March 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-8234-1720-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2004
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
Rylant (Henry and Mudge and the Sneaky Crackers, 1998, etc.) slips into a sentimental mode for this latest outing of the boy and his dog, as she sends Mudge and Henry and his parents off on a camping trip. Each character is attended to, each personality sketched in a few brief words: Henry's mother is the camping veteran with outdoor savvy; Henry's father doesn't know a tent stake from a marshmallow fork, but he's got a guitar for campfire entertainment; and the principals are their usual ready-for-fun selves. There are sappy moments, e.g., after an evening of star- gazing, Rylant sends the family off to bed with: ``Everyone slept safe and sound and there were no bears, no scares. Just the clean smell of trees . . . and wonderful green dreams.'' With its nice tempo, the story is as toasty as its campfire and swaddled in Stevenson's trusty artwork. (Fiction. 6-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-689-81175-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1998
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