As pithy and clever as Ogden Nash at his best, Ashman profiles 13 magical creatures from as many parts of the world. Not all are big, or even malign; the ant-sized Abatwa of southern Africa, for instance, are not so much dangerous as in danger from the shoes of heedless passersby. Still, the canny visitor will want to watch out for the likes of India’s 20-armed Ravana, the Inuits’ man-eating Adlet, and, of course, the Loch Ness Monster. Small links the creatures into a tour, sending two children and an attentive basset hound around the world in a balloon. Gifted caricaturist that he is, he renders the Sirens as a tightly-coiffed girl group, the easily irritated Russian Domovik sprite as a diminutive Stalin, and even slips in a self-portrait as a tourist about to have an unfortunate run-in with a troll. There’s no Yeti in the portrait gallery, but its North American counterpart, Sasquatch, takes a star turn as a diaphanous figure rearing up to snatch the clothes from passing skiers. As both a surefire read-aloud and a heads-up for prospective young travelers, this can’t be beat. (Poetry. 7-10)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-689-82640-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2003
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
With an eye toward easy memorization, Katz gathers over 50 short poems from the likes of Emily Dickinson, Valerie Worth, Jack Prelutsky, and Lewis Carroll, to such anonymous gems as “The Burp”—“Pardon me for being rude. / It was not me, it was my food. / It got so lonely down below, / it just popped up to say hello.” Katz includes five of her own verses, and promotes an evident newcomer, Emily George, with four entries. Hafner surrounds every selection with fine-lined cartoons, mostly of animals and children engaged in play, reading, or other familiar activities. Amid the ranks of similar collections, this shiny-faced newcomer may not stand out—but neither will it drift to the bottom of the class. (Picture book/poetry. 7-9)
Pub Date: March 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-525-47172-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2004
A dozen familiar dinosaurs introduce themselves in verse in this uninspired, if colorful, new animal gallery from the authors of Commotion in the Ocean (2000). Smiling, usually toothily, and sporting an array of diamonds, lightning bolts, spikes and tiger stripes, the garishly colored dinosaurs make an eye-catching show, but their comments seldom measure up to their appearance: “I’m a swimming reptile, / I dive down in the sea. / And when I spot a yummy squid, / I eat it up with glee!” (“Ichthyosaurus”) Next to the likes of Kevin Crotty’s Dinosongs (2000), illustrated by Kurt Vargo, or Jack Prelutsky’s classic Tyrannosaurus Was A Beast (1988), illustrated by Arnold Lobel, there’s not much here to roar about. (Picture book/poetry. 7-9)
Pub Date: March 1, 2005
ISBN: 1-58925-044-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2005
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