With pluck and community spirit, the Raccoon River Kids get it done—another winner.
The can-do kids of Raccoon River help find a home for a stray dog.
First grader Lili Tucker has found a dog—or as she puts it to third grader Brandon, who walks with her to elementary school each morning, “a dog found me.” Not telling her parents, because her mother doesn’t like dogs, Lili hides “Spunky” in the shed and asks Brandon to help her figure out what to do. Brandon enlists the help of his friends, the very competent Hannah and Nico, and another Raccoon River adventure begins. As in Blueberry Bonanza (2017) and Extravaganza at the Plaza (2018), the children brainstorm to achieve a goal—this time to find Spunky a home. There are setbacks, but the kids persevere with spirit and determination, involving their community, and eventually all turns out even better than they’d hoped. Newcomer Lili joins Hannah, Nico, and Brandon, whom readers are familiar with from previous books. Earnest and plucky, Lili is a treasure—a perfect fit for author Wohl’s direct, uncomplicated, dryly funny writing. Illustrator Tuchman’s black-and-white spot illustrations are straightforwardly just right, breaking up the text visually for young readers. Hannah, Nico, Brandon, and Lili are shown as white, while other people illustrated have darker skin tones, and one mother-daughter pair are shown wearing hijab.
With pluck and community spirit, the Raccoon River Kids get it done—another winner. (Fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-943978-43-4
Page Count: 88
Publisher: Persnickety Press
Review Posted Online: May 7, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Alert readers will find the implicit morals: know your audience, mostly, but also never underestimate the power of “rock”...
The theme of persistence (for better or worse) links four tales of magic, trickery, and near disasters.
Lachenmeyer freely borrows familiar folkloric elements, subjecting them to mildly comical twists. In the nearly wordless “Hip Hop Wish,” a frog inadvertently rubs a magic lamp and finds itself saddled with an importunate genie eager to shower it with inappropriate goods and riches. In the title tale, an increasingly annoyed music-hating witch transforms a persistent minstrel into a still-warbling cow, horse, sheep, goat, pig, duck, and rock in succession—then is horrified to catch herself humming a tune. Athesius the sorcerer outwits Warthius, a rival trying to steal his spells via a parrot, by casting silly ones in Ig-pay Atin-lay in the third episode, and in the finale, a painter’s repeated efforts to create a flattering portrait of an ogre king nearly get him thrown into a dungeon…until he suddenly understands what an ogre’s idea of “flattering” might be. The narratives, dialogue, and sound effects leave plenty of elbow room in Blocker’s big, brightly colored panels for the expressive animal and human(ish) figures—most of the latter being light skinned except for the golden genie, the blue ogre, and several people of color in the “Sorcerer’s New Pet.”
Alert readers will find the implicit morals: know your audience, mostly, but also never underestimate the power of “rock” music. (Graphic short stories. 8-10)Pub Date: June 18, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-59643-750-0
Page Count: 112
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2019
An uncomplicated opener, with some funny bits and a clear but not heavy agenda.
Hank Zipzer, poster boy for dyslexic middle graders everywhere, stars in a new prequel series highlighting second-grade trials and triumphs.
Hank’s hopes of playing Aqua Fly, a comic-book character, in the upcoming class play founder when, despite plenty of coaching and preparation, he freezes up during tryouts. He is not particularly comforted when his sympathetic teacher adds a nonspeaking role as a bookmark to the play just for him. Following the pattern laid down in his previous appearances as an older child, he gets plenty of help and support from understanding friends (including Ashley Wong, a new apartment-house neighbor). He even manages to turn lemons into lemonade with a quick bit of improv when Nick “the Tick” McKelty, the sneering classmate who took his preferred role, blanks on his lines during the performance. As the aforementioned bully not only chokes in the clutch and gets a demeaning nickname, but is fat, boastful and eats like a pig, the authors’ sensitivity is rather one-sided. Still, Hank has a winning way of bouncing back from adversity, and like the frequent black-and-white line-and-wash drawings, the typeface is designed with easy legibility in mind.
An uncomplicated opener, with some funny bits and a clear but not heavy agenda. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-448-48239-2
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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