“Perrier was no ordinary pig.” He’s a miniature potbellied pig with a pedigree, a Beverly Hills mansion, and his own uniformed nanny in this amusingly quirky tale. Perrier travels the world with his movie-star owner, Marbella, though he is never quite happy and is always yearning for something to make him feel satisfied. On an excursion to their country estate, Perrier joins some farm pigs for a romp in the mud that leaves him feeling ecstatic, though his newfound pleasure is quashed when Marbella extracts his promise to “stay clean.” He pines for the pleasures of mud, growing “pale and listless,” until Marbella shares her mud-based facial masks with him, followed by a visit to a luxurious hot springs for his birthday to sample the mud baths. Matje (City of Ink Drinkers, not reviewed, etc.) captures both Perrier’s wistful loneliness and his overblown lifestyle in stylish illustrations using sophisticated shades of pink, gray, and mud-brown mocha. While amusing to adults, much of the droll humor here will be over the heads of children unfamiliar with paparazzi, Perrier, and pedigrees. There’s something rather chilling about Perrier’s emptiness and longing, his hide-tingling physical ecstasy in a forbidden substance, his reluctant, repeated promises to “stay clean,” and his ultimate satisfaction in an expensive consumer product and an “exclusive celebrity hideaway.” Fizzy, but not very satisfying. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-7868-0302-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2002
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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