A sensitive tale takes a wry look at the sometimes prickly and often painful path of children’s social relationships. Minnie is devastated when she hears her best friend Charles mention a party at his house on Saturday and then doesn’t receive an invitation. In true Murphy’s Law tradition, Minnie is surrounded by reminders of celebrations: her spelling words for the week are about parties, her pajamas have a confetti theme printed on them, and party stores accidentally call her home. As the week preceding the party drags on, Minnie becomes increasingly despondent. However, Minnie’s tale does have a happy ending. On the big day, Minnie discovers Charles at the local ball field and happily learns that the party was for his sister, not him. Bluthenthal (Meaner Than Meanest, 2001, etc.) neatly balances Minnie’s growing despair with a compassionate yet comical flare, using cartoon-style watercolor illustrations as a humorous foil for the text. Minnie conjures up a myriad of reasons why Charles’s invite did not reach her; thinking perhaps the invitation went to the wrong home or maybe even something more dire. Featured next to these statements are Minnie’s vivid imaginings: a nose-pierced Mohawk-styled adolescent looks bewilderedly at a party invite in one thought cloud and a whirling tornado carries off an entire mailbox in another. While it skirts the heavy issue of how to cope when a child is truly left out of an important gathering of peers, Bluthenthal’s understanding tale offers readers the solace of knowing that everyone at one time or another struggles with feeling left out. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: March 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-689-84141-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2003
Continuing to find inspiration in the work of Virginia Lee Burton, Munro Leaf and other illustrators of the past, Long (The Little Engine That Could, 2005) offers an aw-shucks friendship tale that features a small but hardworking tractor (“putt puff puttedy chuff”) with a Little Toot–style face and a big-eared young descendant of Ferdinand the bull who gets stuck in deep, gooey mud. After the big new yellow tractor, crowds of overalls-clad locals and a red fire engine all fail to pull her out, the little tractor (who had been left behind the barn to rust after the arrival of the new tractor) comes putt-puff-puttedy-chuff-ing down the hill to entice his terrified bovine buddy successfully back to dry ground. Short on internal logic but long on creamy scenes of calf and tractor either gamboling energetically with a gaggle of McCloskey-like geese through neutral-toned fields or resting peacefully in the shade of a gnarled tree (apple, not cork), the episode will certainly draw nostalgic adults. Considering the author’s track record and influences, it may find a welcome from younger audiences too. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-399-25248-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2009
SEEN & HEARD
Say hello to a relatable and rewarding early reader!
Fun with friends makes for a great day.
Norbit, a salmon-colored worm with a pink kerchief, joyfully greets the day and everyone he encounters. “Hello, friends! It’s time for fun with the sun! Let’s play!” He and his menagerie of forest pals—including the sun, who grows limbs and descends from the sky—exuberantly engage in various forms of physical activity such as jumping, going down a slide, spinning around, and watching the clouds go by. Young readers will readily relate, as these are games that most children are familiar with. As day turns to night, Norbit says farewell to Sun and welcomes Moon with an invitation to continue the fun. Watkins has created a vivid world of movement and merriment. Her illustrations feature bright bursts of color that match the energy of the text, with most sentences ending in an exclamation point. The author/illustrator incorporates many elements that make for an ideal early-reading experience (despite the use of a contraction or two): art free from clutter, text consisting of words with only one or two syllables, and repetition and recurring bits, such as a continued game of hide-and-seek with Sun. Inspired by never-before-seen sketches from the Dr. Seuss Collection archives at the University of California San Diego, this is the first title for Seuss Studios, a new imprint for original stories from “emerging authors and illustrators” who “honor Seuss’s hallmark spirit of creativity and imagination.”
Say hello to a relatable and rewarding early reader! (author's note) (Early reader. 5-8)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780593646212
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Seuss Studios
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
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