Blast Off Boy and Blorp, the two unlikely intergalactic exchange students in Yaccarino’s early reader series (First Day on a New Planet, 2000, etc.) have their third adventure on their adopted planets. Here they’re getting ready for their respective science fairs and once again, Yaccarino tells their parallel stories in alternating sections, indicated by oversized first letters backed by symbols of Earth or Meep. Blorp enthusiastically embraces the task and sets right to work, ignoring the helpful hints from his host parents, Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Blorp’s enthusiasm is in direct contrast to Blast Off Boy’s dread when faced with this project. All the brainy aliens are planning their macaroni models of hydrogen molecules, atom splitters, and the like. When Blast Off Boy boasts to the class bully that his project will be better than anyone else’s, the race is on. Problem is the little human has no idea what he will create for the fair. The big day arrives and Blorp reveals his amazing contraption to his human friends. Blast Off Boy, after throwing together a lame experiment at the last second, has a Jack-and-the-Beanstalk moment, wins the prize for the best experiment, and gets to see the bully devoured by his project. Yaccarino’s characteristic comic, colorful illustrations, with aliens and humans straight out of a 1950s cartoon, add to the hilarity. His sly sense of the absurd is not lost in the easy-to-read vocabulary. This series is a welcome addition to the library of those just blasting off out of easy readers. (Fiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-7868-0580-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 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
An uncomplicated opener, with some funny bits and a clear but not heavy agenda.
Hank Zipzer, poster boy for dyslexic middle graders everywhere, stars in a new prequel series highlighting second-grade trials and triumphs.
Hank’s hopes of playing Aqua Fly, a comic-book character, in the upcoming class play founder when, despite plenty of coaching and preparation, he freezes up during tryouts. He is not particularly comforted when his sympathetic teacher adds a nonspeaking role as a bookmark to the play just for him. Following the pattern laid down in his previous appearances as an older child, he gets plenty of help and support from understanding friends (including Ashley Wong, a new apartment-house neighbor). He even manages to turn lemons into lemonade with a quick bit of improv when Nick “the Tick” McKelty, the sneering classmate who took his preferred role, blanks on his lines during the performance. As the aforementioned bully not only chokes in the clutch and gets a demeaning nickname, but is fat, boastful and eats like a pig, the authors’ sensitivity is rather one-sided. Still, Hank has a winning way of bouncing back from adversity, and like the frequent black-and-white line-and-wash drawings, the typeface is designed with easy legibility in mind.
An uncomplicated opener, with some funny bits and a clear but not heavy agenda. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-448-48239-2
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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