Writing a funny, original easy reader isn’t easy, especially writing one that incorporates concepts of time, wrapped up in a spooky story (based on an old campfire tale). Using an old, old, old, joke as her base, Thiesing packs in all the time concepts covered in first-grade classrooms: the calendar, telling time, incremental lengths of time (from a year to minutes), and the old rhyme about “Thirty days has September.” Peggy the pig receives regular mysterious phone calls over the course of a calendar year from a “husky, dusky voice” announcing that he is “zee Viper,” and he “vill come” to her house in a month, then in a week, and so on, counting down to his arrival with increasingly delicious suspense. Peggy looks up the word “viper” in the dictionary (another classroom skill) and thus expects a scary snake to show up at a locked and barricaded door. In a delightfully funny groaner, zee Viper is window washer Willy the Wiemeraner, who announces to Peggy that he has “come to vipe your vindows!” Teachers will like this for the cleverly integrated educational concepts; librarians will use it for story hours; parents will love seeing the familiar joke in print; and young readers will thrill to its mildly scary tone and funny ending. Theising’s cheerful, bright illustrations include lots of humorous details with a variety of formats that add to the story’s momentum. (Easy reader. 5-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-525-46892-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2002
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
Sloat collaborates with Huffman, a Yu’pik storyteller, to infuse a traditional “origins” tale with the joy of creating. Hearing the old women of her village grumble that they have only tasteless crowberries for the fall feast’s akutaq—described as “Eskimo ice cream,” though the recipe at the end includes mixing in shredded fish and lard—young Anana carefully fashions three dolls, then sings and dances them to life. Away they bound, to cover the hills with cranberries, blueberries, and salmonberries. Sloat dresses her smiling figures in mixes of furs and brightly patterned garb, and sends them tumbling exuberantly through grassy tundra scenes as wildlife large and small gathers to look on. Despite obtrusively inserted pronunciations for Yu’pik words in the text, young readers will be captivated by the action, and by Anana’s infectious delight. (Picture book/folktale. 6-8)
Pub Date: June 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-88240-575-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2004
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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