Parents and educators seeking to bully-proof their child and school will welcome this latest scenario from Roche (Little Pig Is Capable, 2002, etc.) depicting a child’s real-life problem and well-resolved conclusion. Second-grader Mim is comfortable and confident in her petite body as she is not only first in her class line-up, but in her mental outlook. That is until her class has gym simultaneously with the third graders and she meets June, oversized for her age, who uses her largess to intimidate Mim, literally bullying her way through every encounter. Expecting to be first in the joint class line-up, June is infuriated when she must line up after the second graders, vowing retaliation against Mim. Each day brings misery to poor Mim as June cuts in line grabbing the last grilled-cheese sandwich at lunch, threatens her privacy in the bathroom, and generally is the cause of Mim’s newfound anxiety. Through it all, Mim is encouraged by her mother, who suggests a peace offering of a cupcake, and her classmates, who rally round by singing a chant of support, all making June “ripping mad.” Finally, the end of the week brings Gym Olympics and both Mim and June inadvertently are the only two left after everyone pairs off in teams. Not wanting to miss out on the final event, both June and Mim discover each other’s strength and weakness, work together to finish the competition, come in “first” as a team, and proudly lead the class line-up wearing their winning medals. Roche’s colorful childlike gouache paintings of feline characters display a traditional, familiar home and school life as she adds detail to her scenes through body and facial movements. This is a well-crafted and believable story sure to relate to any school child facing her own concerns by creating her own solutions. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: March 24, 2002
ISBN: 0-618-15254-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2003
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The wriggly narrator of Diary of a Worm (2003) puts in occasional appearances, but it’s his arachnid buddy who takes center stage here, with terse, tongue-in-cheek comments on his likes (his close friend Fly, Charlotte’s Web), his dislikes (vacuums, people with big feet), nervous encounters with a huge Daddy Longlegs, his extended family—which includes a Grandpa more than willing to share hard-won wisdom (The secret to a long, happy life: “Never fall asleep in a shoe.”)—and mishaps both at spider school and on the human playground. Bliss endows his garden-dwellers with faces and the odd hat or other accessory, and creates cozy webs or burrows colorfully decorated with corks, scraps, plastic toys and other human detritus. Spider closes with the notion that we could all get along, “just like me and Fly,” if we but got to know one another. Once again, brilliantly hilarious. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-06-000153-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Joanna Cotler/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2005
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
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
