In their third chapter-book outing, doggy best friends “Down Girl” and “Sit” must contend again with their misguided masters and the annoying cat, “Here Kitty Kitty,” who lives close by. The running joke is that the down-to-earth dog telling the story fully believes her name is “Down Girl” because she hears it so often. The gag may become a bit hackneyed by the end, but it’s hard not to appreciate the funny miscommunications between loving pets and confused owners, all told with a limited vocabulary for children just making the transition from early readers. In one hilarious chapter, an obedience lesson in the park rivals Abbott and Costello’s famous “Who’s On First” routine, since Sit, Down Girl and Hush are all in attendance, and those same commands are being put to heavy use by owners who all seem to have forgotten their own pets’ names. Reed’s black-and-white illustrations appear on almost every page, extending the three or four paragraphs of text. Young readers will “stay” for the end of this one. (Fiction. 6-10)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-7614-5439-7
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2008
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)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-06-000153-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Joanna Cotler/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2005
Rylant (Henry and Mudge and the Sneaky Crackers, 1998, etc.) slips into a sentimental mode for this latest outing of the boy and his dog, as she sends Mudge and Henry and his parents off on a camping trip. Each character is attended to, each personality sketched in a few brief words: Henry's mother is the camping veteran with outdoor savvy; Henry's father doesn't know a tent stake from a marshmallow fork, but he's got a guitar for campfire entertainment; and the principals are their usual ready-for-fun selves. There are sappy moments, e.g., after an evening of star- gazing, Rylant sends the family off to bed with: ``Everyone slept safe and sound and there were no bears, no scares. Just the clean smell of trees . . . and wonderful green dreams.'' With its nice tempo, the story is as toasty as its campfire and swaddled in Stevenson's trusty artwork. (Fiction. 6-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-689-81175-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1998
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