A wholesome and heartwarming ode to school nurses everywhere.
A day in the life of a busy school nurse.
After arriving by bike, beloved Miss Peatree, who is brown-skinned, begins her workday at Bluebell Elementary. Whistling, she unlocks her room with a big brass key, wipes the counters, sweeps, and more—each step with gusto!—as she sets up for the day ahead. Her first young patient visits her before classes even begin, proclaiming a tummy “full of grumbles.” Another, whose face is splattered with paint (“a catastrophe!”), barges in soon after. Next comes a loose tooth, then homesickness. There’s blood, snot, lice, a splinter, a paper cut, vomit, and injuries galore. The nurse’s office is practically a revolving door of children—and even one principal. A visitor log sidebar cleverly tracks each patient’s name (including repeat visitors), ailment, and status. Miss Peatree fixes up each and every person. But who takes care of Miss Peatree when she gets home? Farrell’s full-color art shines in its details, especially the hand-lettering that matches each patient’s mood and ailment. The characters’ histrionic facial expressions expertly complement Wallace’s humorous narrative. Endpapers feature bandages of various colors and skin tones, an inclusive touch for the diverse cast.
A wholesome and heartwarming ode to school nurses everywhere. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9781797210810
Page Count: 60
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
Echoes of Runaway Bunny color this exchange between a bath-averse piglet and his patient mother. Using a strategy that would probably be a nonstarter in real life, the mother deflects her stubborn offspring’s string of bath-free occupational conceits with appeals to reason: “Pirates NEVER EVER take baths!” “Pirates don’t get seasick either. But you do.” “Yeesh. I’m an astronaut, okay?” “Well, it is hard to bathe in zero gravity. It’s hard to poop and pee in zero gravity too!” And so on, until Mom’s enticing promise of treasure in the deep sea persuades her little Treasure Hunter to take a dive. Chunky figures surrounded by lots of bright white space in Segal’s minimally detailed watercolors keep the visuals as simple as the plotline. The language isn’t quite as basic, though, and as it rendered entirely in dialogue—Mother Pig’s lines are italicized—adult readers will have to work hard at their vocal characterizations for it to make any sense. Moreover, younger audiences (any audiences, come to that) may wonder what the piggy’s watery closing “EUREKA!!!” is all about too. Not particularly persuasive, but this might coax a few young porkers to get their trotters into the tub. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: March 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25425-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2011
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BOOK REVIEW
Though the science is not particularly solid, the message is an important one, and with the level of gross in the...
Krall’s latest is a disgusting, tongue-in-cheek lesson in contagiousness.
Simon loves school so much that even a cold (with its attendant snotty nose) won’t keep him home. He kisses his family and boards the bus, proceeding to vomit out the window on the way: “He…had fun the whole way,” the text understates. The merest contact or proximity leads others to suddenly, and unrealistically, sport Simon’s symptoms. The week includes show-and-tell, a zoo field trip, a game of kickball and a child-free bus on Friday afternoon, all the children having finally succumbed to his illness. The three germs that have been following him around all week finally introduce themselves and high-five him for being such a “germ hero.” Horrified, Simon does his best to stop their spread, washing his hands, covering his mouth, resting and hydrating, though the same cannot be said for one classmate on Monday morning. Krall’s illustrations work in the ick factor, his Photoshopped characters sporting oozing and dripping poison-green noses as each comes into contact with Simon. Careful observers may spot the colorful germs before they introduce themselves, but even those who don’t will want to go back and try to find all their appearances.
Though the science is not particularly solid, the message is an important one, and with the level of gross in the illustrations, it is sure to get through to young audiences. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4424-9097-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2014
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