Next book

NIBBLES

THE DINOSAUR GUIDE

A delicious escapade that young librivores (to use a more logical coinage) will snap up.

A voracious “bookivore” leaves ragged holes behind as it chews its way through an introduction to dinosaurs.

A T. Rex peering hungrily through the large die-cut hole in the front cover hints at what’s in store for yellow, Pikachu-like Nibbles. Not that the diminutive book monster cares that much, as he chews his way through quick introductions to Triceratops (“big bums and large stompy feet too”), Diplodocus (“I’m the Prince of PARPS!”), and Velociraptor—keeping just ahead of the outraged dinos and indignant narrator by lurking beneath flaps or gnawing his way through to the next page. Along with jokes, poop references, and quick snacks of dinosaur facts, Yarlett supplies loose cartoon portraits of pale-toned prehistoric creatures in simplified settings. Speaking of snacks, Nibbles almost becomes one…before the big T. Rex that snatches him up spits him out hard enough to propel him right through the rear cover. “It’s a comet!” ventures a saurian witness. “What’s a comet?” Ominously: “We’ll find out soon.”

A delicious escapade that young librivores (to use a more logical coinage) will snap up. (Novelty picture book. 5-7)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-61067-643-4

Page Count: 36

Publisher: Kane Miller

Review Posted Online: July 16, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2017

Next book

SEE PIP POINT

From the Adventures of Otto series

Emergent readers will like the humor in little Pip’s pointed requests, and more engaging adventures for Otto and Pip will be...

In his third beginning reader about Otto the robot, Milgrim (See Otto, 2002, etc.) introduces another new friend for Otto, a little mouse named Pip.

The simple plot involves a large balloon that Otto kindly shares with Pip after the mouse has a rather funny pointing attack. (Pip seems to be in that I-point-and-I-want-it phase common with one-year-olds.) The big purple balloon is large enough to carry Pip up and away over the clouds, until Pip runs into Zee the bee. (“Oops, there goes Pip.”) Otto flies a plane up to rescue Pip (“Hurry, Otto, Hurry”), but they crash (and splash) in front of some hippos with another big balloon, and the story ends as it begins, with a droll “See Pip point.” Milgrim again succeeds in the difficult challenge of creating a real, funny story with just a few simple words. His illustrations utilize lots of motion and basic geometric shapes with heavy black outlines, all against pastel backgrounds with text set in an extra-large typeface.

Emergent readers will like the humor in little Pip’s pointed requests, and more engaging adventures for Otto and Pip will be welcome additions to the limited selection of funny stories for children just beginning to read. (Easy reader. 5-7)

Pub Date: March 1, 2003

ISBN: 0-689-85116-2

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Atheneum

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2003

Next book

SYLVIA'S SPINACH

Very young gardeners will need more information, but for certain picky eaters, the suggested strategy just might work.

A young spinach hater becomes a spinach lover after she has to grow her own in a class garden.

Unable to trade away the seed packet she gets from her teacher for tomatoes, cukes or anything else more palatable, Sylvia reluctantly plants and nurtures a pot of the despised veggie then transplants it outside in early spring. By the end of school, only the plot’s lettuce, radishes and spinach are actually ready to eat (talk about a badly designed class project!)—and Sylvia, once she nerves herself to take a nibble, discovers that the stuff is “not bad.” She brings home an armful and enjoys it from then on in every dish: “And that was the summer Sylvia Spivens said yes to spinach.” Raff uses unlined brushwork to give her simple cartoon illustrations a pleasantly freehand, airy look, and though Pryor skips over the (literally, for spinach) gritty details in both the story and an afterword, she does cover gardening basics in a simple and encouraging way.

Very young gardeners will need more information, but for certain picky eaters, the suggested strategy just might work. (Picture book. 5-7)

Pub Date: Nov. 6, 2012

ISBN: 978-0-9836615-1-1

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Readers to Eaters

Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2012

Close Quickview