Still, Ty might hit the spot for certain kids in that liminal stage.
The spinoff from the popular The Winnie Years series will offer a new, younger generation of Myracle fans the chance to enjoy the ups and downs of the Perry family.
Seven-year-old Ty was the baby of the family until his little sister came along, and getting used to life with a demanding new baby around hasn’t been easy. Desperate for his mother’s attention and struggling with feelings of jealousy he’s too young to understand, Ty begins to act out. Though the action doesn’t really pick up until Ty makes it to the aquarium about a third of the way through the book, his escapades will entertain and endear Ty to readers. With its easily accessible language and engaging black-and-white illustrations, this book makes for a wonderful read-aloud, particularly for young children who are likely to be experiencing the same growing pains in their own homes. Early chapter-book readers, however, might be turned off by the fact that Ty often feels more like a 4- or 5-year-old than a “big guy” second-grader. Some might secretly relate to what Ty is going through (like rediscovering the comfort of a pacifier), but it’s hard to imagine that most children capable of reading a book like this on their own wouldn’t seek out a more mature protagonist.
Still, Ty might hit the spot for certain kids in that liminal stage. (Fiction. 6-8)Pub Date: May 2, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-525-42264-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
Score one for cleanliness. Like (almost) all Munsch, funny as it stands but even better read aloud, with lots of exaggerated...
The master of the manic patterned tale offers a newly buffed version of his first published book, with appropriately gloppy new illustrations.
Like the previous four iterations (orig. 1979; revised 2004, 2006, 2009), the plot remains intact through minor changes in wording: Each time young Jule Ann ventures outside in clean clothes, a nefarious mud puddle leaps out of a tree or off the roof to get her “completely all over muddy” and necessitate a vigorous parental scrubbing. Petricic gives the amorphous mud monster a particularly tarry look and texture in his scribbly, high-energy cartoon scenes. It's a formidable opponent, but the two bars of smelly soap that the resourceful child at last chucks at her attacker splatter it over the page and send it sputtering into permanent retreat.
Score one for cleanliness. Like (almost) all Munsch, funny as it stands but even better read aloud, with lots of exaggerated sound effects. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-55451-427-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Annick Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 7, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
There are many parallel legends – the seal women, for example, with their strange sad longings – but none is more direct than this American Indian story of a girl who is carried away in a horses’ stampede…to ride thenceforth by the side of a beautiful stallion who leads the wild horses. The girl had always loved horses, and seemed to understand them “in a special way”; a year after her disappearance her people find her riding beside the stallion, calf in tow, and take her home despite his strong resistance. But she is unhappy and returns to the stallion; after that, a beautiful mare is seen riding always beside him. Goble tells the story soberly, allowing it to settle, to find its own level. The illustrations are in the familiar striking Goble style, but softened out here and there with masses of flowers and foliage – suitable perhaps for the switch in subject matter from war to love, but we miss the spanking clean design of Custer’s Last Battle and The Fetterman Fight. 6-7
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1978
ISBN: 0689845049
Page Count: -
Publisher: Bradbury
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1978
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