A study in parodic mayhem.
Upon orders from the king of Great Kerfuffle, white siblings Stinkbomb and Ketchup-Face embark on a taleworthy quest to rid their home of mischievous badgers.
Take a dollop of Jon Scieszka’s classic fairy-tale sendups, add a swirl of M.T. Anderson’s humorously perilous quests, garnish with a Snicket-ian narrator’s crumbled fourth wall, and you have the hilarious first adventure of Stinkbomb and Ketchup-Face on the island of Great Kerfuffle. With their parents conveniently out of the way until the end of the story, the sibling duo awakens to find $20 has been pilfered from Stinkbomb’s piggy bank, and the only obvious suspects (once they rule out Ketchup-Face, of course) are a band of badgers. Taking their complaint to the king (also white), they are, in turn, sent to rid the kingdom of the badgers, but the pair’s quarry is nothing if not wicked (“if they weren’t bad, they’d just be gers”). Even with a cat army, a sentient shopping cart, and every story trope on their side, Stinkbomb and Ketchup-Face may be outmatched. With metafictive flare, a truly expert deployment of absurdity, and an unrelenting song about jam, Dougherty’s narrative is as self-reflexive and entrancing as a Penrose staircase, populated with delightfully inscrutable characters and brought to rollicking life with Ricks’ spot illustrations.
A study in parodic mayhem. (Fiction. 7-11)Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-101-99662-1
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
A welcome, well-researched reflection of cultural pride in the early-reader landscape.
The fourth installment in Delacre’s early-reader series centers on the rich musical traditions of Puerto Rico, once again featuring sibling tree frogs Rafi and Rosi Coquí.
Readers learn along with Rafi and Rosi as they explore bomba, plena, and salsa in three chapters. A glossary at the beginning sets readers up well to understand the Spanish vocabulary, including accurate phoneticization for non-Spanish speakers. The stories focus on Rafi and Rosi’s relationship within a musical context. For example, in one chapter Rafi finds out that he attracts a larger audience playing his homemade güiro with Rosi’s help even though he initially excluded her: “Big brothers only.” Even when he makes mistakes, as the older brother, Rafi consoles Rosi when she is embarrassed or angry at him. In each instance, their shared joy for music and dance ultimately shines through any upsets—a valuable reflection of unity. Informational backmatter and author’s sources are extensive. Undoubtedly these will help teachers, librarians, and parents to develop Puerto Rican cultural programs, curriculum, or home activities to extend young readers’ learning. The inclusion of instructions to make one’s own homemade güiro is a thoughtful addition. The Spanish translation, also by Delacre and published simultaneously, will require a more advanced reader than the English one to recognize and comprehend contractions (“pa’bajo-pa-pa’rriba”) and relatively sophisticated vocabulary.
A welcome, well-researched reflection of cultural pride in the early-reader landscape. (Early reader. 7-9)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-89239-429-6
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Children's Book Press
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
However the compelling fitness of theme and event and the apt but unexpected imagery (the opening sentences compare the...
At a time when death has become an acceptable, even voguish subject in children's fiction, Natalie Babbitt comes through with a stylistic gem about living forever.
Protected Winnie, the ten-year-old heroine, is not immortal, but when she comes upon young Jesse Tuck drinking from a secret spring in her parents' woods, she finds herself involved with a family who, having innocently drunk the same water some 87 years earlier, haven't aged a moment since. Though the mood is delicate, there is no lack of action, with the Tucks (previously suspected of witchcraft) now pursued for kidnapping Winnie; Mae Tuck, the middle aged mother, striking and killing a stranger who is onto their secret and would sell the water; and Winnie taking Mae's place in prison so that the Tucks can get away before she is hanged from the neck until....? Though Babbitt makes the family a sad one, most of their reasons for discontent are circumstantial and there isn't a great deal of wisdom to be gleaned from their fate or Winnie's decision not to share it.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1975
ISBN: 0312369816
Page Count: 164
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1975
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