In this original, and decidedly un-Aesopian, fable, wolf and pigs fall in together with unwontedly happy results. Banished by the farmer for eating the truffles she’s only supposed to be sniffing out, Bianca and her two piglets pass a nervous night in the woods. The next day gets off to a bad start too when a huge wolf appears—but Bianca adroitly pops a truffle into his mouth. He likes it so much that he not only gives over his predatory intentions, and later saves the pigs from an entire pack of wolves, but ultimately becomes the piglets’ nanny while mama pig’s out keeping the larder stocked. Working in oils, Santore creates a serene Italian hill country setting, gives the looming wolf a suitably shaggy look and leaves the unlikely family unit living “happily ever after.” Though not as clever a twist as Eugene Trivizas’s classic Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig (1993), illustrated by Helen Oxenbury, this also presents an alternative to traditional adversarial encounters between predator and prey. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Oct. 25, 2005
ISBN: 0-375-82946-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2005
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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