A trip to the veterinarian to have under-the-weather cat Frank examined turns out to be less painful than expected for the cat’s owner, Andy. While Frank waits to see the doctor, Andy’s mother, grandmother, and aunt relate the story of how his mother broke her arm in third grade. The vet patches up Frank’s head wound, acquired by fighting with another cat, and he is sent home to recuperate. Andy, concerned about Frank suffering, wonders if her arm was painful during the entire time it was broken. Andy’s mother reassuringly reviews the course of her discomfort and gradual recovery. Naturally, “ . . . that’s how it happened with Frank,” who first has a collar so that he cannot disturb his head bandages. Eventually, he starts to eat again, and the fur on his shaved head grows back as his wound heals. The last picture shows Frank out in the grass again, after a seemingly full convalescence, just like Andy’s mother. Perkins (All Alone in the Universe, 1999, etc.) successfully fuses text and pictures to help Andy cope with anxiety about his cat’s health. It’s easy to keep the two storylines separate since the pictures from the past have curvy, indistinct margins, while those that tell Frank’s story are rectangular. The soft watercolors strike just the right note of gentleness in this tender story of a broken cat, a broken arm, and the healing power of love. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-06-029263-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2002
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Give this child’s-eye view of a day at the beach with an attentive father high marks for coziness: “When your ball blows across the sand and into the ocean and starts to drift away, your daddy could say, Didn’t I tell you not to play too close to the waves? But he doesn’t. He wades out into the cold water. And he brings your ball back to the beach and plays roll and catch with you.” Alley depicts a moppet and her relaxed-looking dad (to all appearances a single parent) in informally drawn beach and domestic settings: playing together, snuggling up on the sofa and finally hugging each other goodnight. The third-person voice is a bit distancing, but it makes the togetherness less treacly, and Dad’s mix of love and competence is less insulting, to parents and children both, than Douglas Wood’s What Dads Can’t Do (2000), illus by Doug Cushman. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: May 23, 2005
ISBN: 0-618-00361-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2005
At her best, Rylant’s (The Ticky-Tacky Doll, below, etc.) sweetness and sentiment fills the heart; in this outing, however, sentimentality reigns and the end result is pretty gooey. Pandora keeps a lighthouse: her destiny is to protect ships at sea. She’s lonely, but loves her work. She rescues Seabold and heals his broken leg, and he stays on to mend his shipwrecked boat. This wouldn’t be so bad but Pandora’s a cat and Seabold a dog, although they are anthropomorphized to the max. Then the duo rescue three siblings—mice!—and make a family together, although Rylant is careful to note that Pandora and Seabold each have their own room. Choosing what you love, caring for others, making a family out of love, it is all very well, but this capsizes into silliness. Formatted to look like the start of a new series. Oh, dear. (Fiction. 6-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-689-84880-3
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2002
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