This second installment about Oahu-dwelling Calvin builds on the engaging story line first introduced in the chapter-book series’s debut title, Calvin Coconut, Trouble Magnet (2008). Annoyed by the teasing doled out by their 16-year-old houseguest Stella, Calvin borrows Zippy, a neighborhood cat, and places it on her pillow, which causes a nasty allergy attack. Afterward, Calvin is unexpectedly consumed by guilt and he soon hatches a scheme to make it up to her with a snazzy but pricey birthday gift. With the help of his friends, Calvin searches the island high and low for ways to make money (while avoiding bully Tito), and the inevitable hijinks ensue. While somewhat formulaic, this slice-of-life–styled look at Calvin’s working-class family includes the experiences of having an absentee father, a busy-but-more-than-capable mom and siblings, complete with realistic strife, all of which add some depth. Rogers’s simple black-and-white illustrations are a fine embellishment. Light in tone, rich with cultural details and populated by likable characters, this slim volume will appeal to many a young reader. (Fiction. 7-10)
Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-385-73702-9
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Wendy Lamb/Random
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2009
Trickling, bubbling, swirling, rushing, a river flows down from its mountain beginnings, past peaceful country and bustling city on its way to the sea. Hooper (The Drop in My Drink, 1998, etc.) artfully evokes the water’s changing character as it transforms from “milky-cold / rattling-bold” to a wide, slow “sliding past mudflats / looping through marshes” to the end of its journey. Willey, best known for illustrating Geraldine McCaughrean’s spectacular folk-tale collections, contributes finely detailed scenes crafted in shimmering, intricate blues and greens, capturing mountain’s chill, the bucolic serenity of passing pastures, and a sense of mystery in the water’s shadowy depths. Though Hooper refers to “the cans and cartons / and bits of old wood” being swept along, there’s no direct conservation agenda here (for that, see Debby Atwell’s River, 1999), just appreciation for the river’s beauty and being. (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: June 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7636-0792-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2000
McDonald’s irrepressible third-grader (Judy Moody Gets Famous, 2001, etc.) takes a few false steps before hitting full stride. This time, not only has her genius little brother Stink submitted a competing entry in the Crazy Strips Band-Aid design contest, but in the wake of her science teacher’s heads-up about rainforest destruction and endangered animals, she sees every member of her family using rainforest products. It’s all more than enough to put her in a Mood, which gets her in trouble at home for letting Stink’s pet toad, Toady, go free, and at school for surreptitiously collecting all the pencils (made from rainforest cedar) in class. And to top it off, Stink’s Crazy Strips entry wins a prize, while she gets . . . a certificate. Chronicled amusingly in Reynolds’s frequent ink-and-tea drawings, Judy goes from pillar to post—but she justifies the pencil caper convincingly enough to spark a bottle drive that nets her and her classmates not only a hundred seedling trees for Costa Rica, but the coveted school Giraffe Award (given to those who stick their necks out), along with T-shirts and ice cream coupons. Judy’s growing corps of fans will crow “Rare!” right along with her. (Fiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-7636-1446-7
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2002
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