A painful, comic retelling of five horror movies. Wisniewski is so familiar with these films that the inside jokes must be hilariously funny to him. However, it’s hard to imagine the young reader who has seen, or even heard of, the original movies and therefore hard to imagine them understanding the jokes. Though much of the humor is calculated to bring a groan rather than a guffaw, it’s hard to see how the intended audience will respond with anything but a blank look. The werewolf with a feminine haircut becomes a werewuss; a crazed hermit runs around insulting everyone in German; the castle has a big buttress and is dieting to lose it; space aliens in the form of toupees take over the mind of General Malaise and space girdles threaten to take their place. Some of the characters are stereotypic, if not downright racist: “More chins than a Chinese phone book,” the Tibetan guide, Duk Pin Bo Ling, and the Abominable Showman, who sounds like a stereotyped character in a bad Catskills production. Because many authors are trying to hop on Pilkey’s Captain Underpants bandwagon, the confused young readers will pick up this inviting-looking volume, with its hilarious illustrations, readable font, and comfortable white space and shake their heads in confusion. If the stories were not devoid of plot, older readers might like figuring out the puns and plays on words. (Fiction. 7-10)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-06-000513-0
Page Count: 80
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2002
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
McDonald’s irrepressible third-grader (Judy Moody Gets Famous, 2001, etc.) takes a few false steps before hitting full stride. This time, not only has her genius little brother Stink submitted a competing entry in the Crazy Strips Band-Aid design contest, but in the wake of her science teacher’s heads-up about rainforest destruction and endangered animals, she sees every member of her family using rainforest products. It’s all more than enough to put her in a Mood, which gets her in trouble at home for letting Stink’s pet toad, Toady, go free, and at school for surreptitiously collecting all the pencils (made from rainforest cedar) in class. And to top it off, Stink’s Crazy Strips entry wins a prize, while she gets . . . a certificate. Chronicled amusingly in Reynolds’s frequent ink-and-tea drawings, Judy goes from pillar to post—but she justifies the pencil caper convincingly enough to spark a bottle drive that nets her and her classmates not only a hundred seedling trees for Costa Rica, but the coveted school Giraffe Award (given to those who stick their necks out), along with T-shirts and ice cream coupons. Judy’s growing corps of fans will crow “Rare!” right along with her. (Fiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-7636-1446-7
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2002
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