Cazet returns with a third reader in the Grandpa Spanielson’s Chicken Pox Stories series. Barney’s still itchy, and after Grandma drives off to market, Grandpa lets loose with another consummately distracting whopper. Seems once upon a time, he was a famous explorer. As he and Dr. Storkmeyer bicycled deep in the jungle, a horde of Pooches (diminutive canine headhunters) ambushed them, shooting tiny arrows into their tires. The yarn lampoons B-movie plotting, as amorous, extra-large Queen Peekatmyknees, rebuffed by Grandpa, orders Dr. Storkmeyer dipped headfirst in a cauldron of shrink juice. The pastel watercolors of the sickroom give way to bold jungle greens and the browns of a slew of busy Pooches, whose nose bones don’t evoke terror so much as chew toys. Dr. Storkmeyer does suffer a temporary noggin reduction (handily amended by Grandpa’s bicycle pump), but it all wraps nicely, with Grandpa and Dr. S. trading the tale’s best one-liners at the close. Kids will itch for a fourth. (Easy reader. 5-8)
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2007
ISBN: 0-06-073013-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2006
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
Rylant (Henry and Mudge and the Sneaky Crackers, 1998, etc.) slips into a sentimental mode for this latest outing of the boy and his dog, as she sends Mudge and Henry and his parents off on a camping trip. Each character is attended to, each personality sketched in a few brief words: Henry's mother is the camping veteran with outdoor savvy; Henry's father doesn't know a tent stake from a marshmallow fork, but he's got a guitar for campfire entertainment; and the principals are their usual ready-for-fun selves. There are sappy moments, e.g., after an evening of star- gazing, Rylant sends the family off to bed with: ``Everyone slept safe and sound and there were no bears, no scares. Just the clean smell of trees . . . and wonderful green dreams.'' With its nice tempo, the story is as toasty as its campfire and swaddled in Stevenson's trusty artwork. (Fiction. 6-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-689-81175-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1998
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