MORE MOLE STORIES AND LITTLE GOPHER, TOO

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MORE MOLE STORIES AND LITTLE GOPHER, TOO

Name: MORE MOLE STORIES AND LITTLE GOPHER, TOO
Author: Lore Segal
ISBN: 0-374-35026-4

by Lore Segal & illustrated by Sergio Ruzzier ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 13, 2005

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In this second short story collection about Mole and his loving Grandma, Mole learns to deal with childhood challenges and tribulations. Segal simply expresses the proverbial tug between id and ego through universal kid behaviors, contrasting the impulsive Little Mole with his patient Grandmother. Each of the four chapters describe Little Mole’s behavior: Eating all of the chocolate chip cookies; not sharing with his playmate Little Gopher; walking off with the whole bag of pretzels; not sharing his Grandmother when all she wants is an uninterrupted telephone conversation. Intimate earth-tone watercolor illustrations convey Little Mole’s behavior and a love and loyalty he and his Grandmother do share. Little morsels Mole covets in each story are scattered on the endpapers. Little Mole begins on the title page by impishly kicking a ball, drawing the reader into the story. His impish antics and declarative statements, “Mine,” and “I want it!” will bemuse and amuse young readers. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: April 13, 2005

ISBN: 0-374-35026-4

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2005

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

- BOOK REVIEW
WHY MOLE SHOUTED
by Lore Segal & illustrated by Sergio Ruzzier

- BOOK REVIEW
MORRIS THE ARTIST
by Lore Segal & illustrated by Boris Kulikov

PETE THE CAT'S 12 GROOVY DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

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PETE THE CAT'S 12 GROOVY DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

by James Dean ; illustrated by James Dean ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 18, 2018

Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among

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Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.

If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”

Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018

ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS

- BOOK REVIEW
PETE THE KITTY'S FIRST DAY OF PRESCHOOL
by Kimberly Dean ; illustrated by James Dean

- BOOK REVIEW
I LOVE PETE THE KITTY
by James Dean & Kimberly Dean ; illustrated by James Dean

- BOOK REVIEW
TOOL SCHOOL
by Joan Holub ; illustrated by James Dean

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DIARY OF A SPIDER

by Doreen Cronin & illustrated by Harry Bliss ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 2005

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The wriggly narrator of Diary of a Worm (2003) puts in occasional appearances, but it’s his arachnid buddy who takes center stage here, with terse, tongue-in-cheek comments on his likes (his close friend Fly, Charlotte’s Web), his dislikes (vacuums, people with big feet), nervous encounters with a huge Daddy Longlegs, his extended family—which includes a Grandpa more than willing to share hard-won wisdom (The secret to a long, happy life: “Never fall asleep in a shoe.”)—and mishaps both at spider school and on the human playground. Bliss endows his garden-dwellers with faces and the odd hat or other accessory, and creates cozy webs or burrows colorfully decorated with corks, scraps, plastic toys and other human detritus. Spider closes with the notion that we could all get along, “just like me and Fly,” if we but got to know one another. Once again, brilliantly hilarious. (Picture book. 6-8)