A gentle tale—no serious dark-magic threats here—that grips through its visual lushness. (Picture book. 5-9)
Rollie is a curious, young field mouse discontent with his life in the field.
He has big dreams touched with romance and adventure, which take place in the medieval village he sees from his high meadow. So he strikes camp one day and heads to town, as many a lad and lady are wont to do. On the outskirts of town, he comes upon a wizard’s tower, with two cows floating in the sky nearby. The cows’ predicament has been caused by the wizard’s diminishing powers and, particularly, by his faltering memory. It is Rollie’s good fortune to be welcomed by the wizard and in turn to become the wizard’s able assistant, ready to supply the correct incantation in the wizard’s ear. Here is another well-told, elegantly paced and visually luxurious tale from Morrissey and co-author Krensky (The Crimson Comet, 2006, etc.), one that again shows their talent for insinuating the wackily supernatural into their adventures—those floating cows; a giant apple tree (that’s literal: one giant apple in a tree); a magic fish—and his artistic mastery: whole-page, and occasional two-page, spreads, with soft daubs of oil paint coalescing into a sharp image that nonetheless has a melting, dreamy quality.
A gentle tale—no serious dark-magic threats here—that grips through its visual lushness. (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-008066-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2011
Hee haw.
The print version of a knee-slapping cumulative ditty.
In the song, Smith meets a donkey on the road. It is three-legged, and so a “wonky donkey” that, on further examination, has but one eye and so is a “winky wonky donkey” with a taste for country music and therefore a “honky-tonky winky wonky donkey,” and so on to a final characterization as a “spunky hanky-panky cranky stinky-dinky lanky honky-tonky winky wonky donkey.” A free musical recording (of this version, anyway—the author’s website hints at an adults-only version of the song) is available from the publisher and elsewhere online. Even though the book has no included soundtrack, the sly, high-spirited, eye patch–sporting donkey that grins, winks, farts, and clumps its way through the song on a prosthetic metal hoof in Cowley’s informal watercolors supplies comical visual flourishes for the silly wordplay. Look for ready guffaws from young audiences, whether read or sung, though those attuned to disability stereotypes may find themselves wincing instead or as well.
Hee haw. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-545-26124-1
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for...
A gentle voice and familiar pitfalls characterize this tale of a boy navigating the risky road to responsibility.
Gavin is new to his neighborhood and Carver Elementary. He likes his new friend, Richard, and has a typically contentious relationship with his older sister, Danielle. When Gavin’s desire to impress Richard sets off a disastrous chain of events, the boy struggles to evade responsibility for his actions. “After all, it isn’t his fault that Danielle’s snow globe got broken. Sure, he shouldn’t have been in her room—but then, she shouldn’t be keeping candy in her room to tempt him. Anybody would be tempted. Anybody!” opines Gavin once he learns the punishment for his crime. While Gavin has a charming Everyboy quality, and his aversion to Aunt Myrtle’s yapping little dog rings true, little about Gavin distinguishes him from other trouble-prone protagonists. He is, regrettably, forgettable. Coretta Scott King Honor winner English (Francie, 1999) is a teacher whose storytelling usually benefits from her day job. Unfortunately, the pizzazz of classroom chaos is largely absent from this series opener.
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for subsequent volumes. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: Dec. 17, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-547-97044-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2013
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