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
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with...
Reynolds and Brown have crafted a Halloween tale that balances a really spooky premise with the hilarity that accompanies any mention of underwear.
Jasper Rabbit needs new underwear. Plain White satisfies him until he spies them: “Creepy underwear! So creepy! So comfy! They were glorious.” The underwear of his dreams is a pair of radioactive-green briefs with a Frankenstein face on the front, the green color standing out all the more due to Brown’s choice to do the entire book in grayscale save for the underwear’s glowing green…and glow they do, as Jasper soon discovers. Despite his “I’m a big rabbit” assertion, that glow creeps him out, so he stuffs them in the hamper and dons Plain White. In the morning, though, he’s wearing green! He goes to increasing lengths to get rid of the glowing menace, but they don’t stay gone. It’s only when Jasper finally admits to himself that maybe he’s not such a big rabbit after all that he thinks of a clever solution to his fear of the dark. Brown’s illustrations keep the backgrounds and details simple so readers focus on Jasper’s every emotion, writ large on his expressive face. And careful observers will note that the underwear’s expression also changes, adding a bit more creep to the tale.
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with Dr. Seuss’ tale of animate, empty pants. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 22, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0298-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
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
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