Wilson would be having a wonderful time in third grade if he could learn his multiplication tables. But there they are—mocking him with their inexplicable patterns and never-ending challenges. He even has to take a note home to his parents asking for help, and now everyone is in on the act. Seems to Wilson that everyone can learn the tables except for him: Laura Vicks, the class brain, Josh Hernandez, his best friend, and even his little kindergartner brother is better with numbers than Wilson is. There is much to like in this tale for new readers. The sensible and helpful parents comfort Wilson when the timed tests prove daunting, never threatening or humiliating him because he struggles. His teacher Mrs. Porter is supportive of him, gently nudging him to try, try again. Even the other children in the class are patient and encouraging when Wilson is the final third grader to attempt the twelves tables. Someone has to be last to get his the reward of the ice cream cone and everyone is pulling for Wilson. The dialogue is realistic but not predictable, and the situations are pure third grade with subplots about a class hamster, a best friend who makes up droll rhymes, and an adoring little brother who gets in the way sometimes. Mills (Gus and Grandpa at Basketball, 2001, etc.) gets the serious parts just right, too. Wilson is truly worried about the multiplication tables. Wilson and little brother Kipper really do want a pet. Wilson’s parents truly want to help Wilson, but are willing to let him take responsibility for his own challenges. With its short chapters, familiar story line, and Karas’s (Muncha, Muncha, Muncha, 2002, etc.) warm, light-touch illustrations, this adds up to an excellent selection for the new chapter book reader. (Fiction. 7-10)
Pub Date: April 9, 2002
ISBN: 0-374-36746-9
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2002
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Trickling, bubbling, swirling, rushing, a river flows down from its mountain beginnings, past peaceful country and bustling city on its way to the sea. Hooper (The Drop in My Drink, 1998, etc.) artfully evokes the water’s changing character as it transforms from “milky-cold / rattling-bold” to a wide, slow “sliding past mudflats / looping through marshes” to the end of its journey. Willey, best known for illustrating Geraldine McCaughrean’s spectacular folk-tale collections, contributes finely detailed scenes crafted in shimmering, intricate blues and greens, capturing mountain’s chill, the bucolic serenity of passing pastures, and a sense of mystery in the water’s shadowy depths. Though Hooper refers to “the cans and cartons / and bits of old wood” being swept along, there’s no direct conservation agenda here (for that, see Debby Atwell’s River, 1999), just appreciation for the river’s beauty and being. (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: June 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7636-0792-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2000
Alert readers will find the implicit morals: know your audience, mostly, but also never underestimate the power of “rock”...
The theme of persistence (for better or worse) links four tales of magic, trickery, and near disasters.
Lachenmeyer freely borrows familiar folkloric elements, subjecting them to mildly comical twists. In the nearly wordless “Hip Hop Wish,” a frog inadvertently rubs a magic lamp and finds itself saddled with an importunate genie eager to shower it with inappropriate goods and riches. In the title tale, an increasingly annoyed music-hating witch transforms a persistent minstrel into a still-warbling cow, horse, sheep, goat, pig, duck, and rock in succession—then is horrified to catch herself humming a tune. Athesius the sorcerer outwits Warthius, a rival trying to steal his spells via a parrot, by casting silly ones in Ig-pay Atin-lay in the third episode, and in the finale, a painter’s repeated efforts to create a flattering portrait of an ogre king nearly get him thrown into a dungeon…until he suddenly understands what an ogre’s idea of “flattering” might be. The narratives, dialogue, and sound effects leave plenty of elbow room in Blocker’s big, brightly colored panels for the expressive animal and human(ish) figures—most of the latter being light skinned except for the golden genie, the blue ogre, and several people of color in the “Sorcerer’s New Pet.”
Alert readers will find the implicit morals: know your audience, mostly, but also never underestimate the power of “rock” music. (Graphic short stories. 8-10)Pub Date: June 18, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-59643-750-0
Page Count: 112
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2019
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