McKelvey’s rhymed menagerie of creepy-crawlies falls somewhere between a single poem and a collection, as the verses vary in meter and rhyme, but are not given separate titles. Frequent changes in size, shape, and placement of individual words give the pages an overworked design, and the writing doesn’t exactly scintillate either: “The praying mantis / prays for prey, / her bug gourmet / a prayer away.” Say what? Fans of Egielski’s Jazper (1998) will find a similar cast of multilegged but otherwise just about human critters here. Unfortunately, queasy scenes of boys and girls sleeping while giant spiders and mosquitoes have their way, or finding oversized roaches in the breakfast cereal, and head lice building permanent settlements, come close to open conflict with the verses’ breezy tone. Definitely an also-ran next to Douglas Florian’s Insectlopedia (1998) and Kurt Cyrus’s Oddhopper Opera: A Bug’s Garden of Verses (p. 329). Only for those who like to go “eeyew.” (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: June 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-399-23452-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2001
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
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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