Overall the connection between the boy and the future general and president is labored and tenuous, and it may well baffle...
This potentially amusing blend of story and historical fact feels a bit strained.
“When George Washington went to sleep Friday night, he was six years old. When he woke up on Saturday, he was seven.” Eager to observe his birthday but thwarted throughout the day, George studies with older brother Augustine, spends a bored few minutes heaving rocks across the Rappahannock, helps his father prune the cherry trees with disastrous results and finally celebrates at dinner with his loving family. The boy’s concerns about a seemingly forgotten birthday will resonate with young readers, and Blitt’s signature caricature style in watercolor is lively and droll. McNamara offers both facts and myths—presented in bordered inset captions—about the grownup George that relate to her fictional account of his seventh birthday. For example, as George crosses an icy creek carrying the remains of the cherry tree (“Hope I never have to do this again”), the caption reveals that in fact he had to cross the Delaware many times “in one of the most important battles of the Revolutionary War.” The author offers a first-person narrative in Washington’s voice, “George Washington Tells the Truth,” following the picture-book story.
Overall the connection between the boy and the future general and president is labored and tenuous, and it may well baffle young readers unfamiliar with most of those stories. (Picture book. 7-10)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-375-84499-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Dec. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2011
A Christmas cozy, read straight or bit by bit through the season.
Neither snow nor rain nor mountains of yummy cheese stay the carrier of a letter to Santa.
So carelessly does 8-year-old Oliver stuff his very late letter to Santa into the mailbox that it falls out behind his back—leaving Winston, a “small, grubby white mouse” with an outsized heart, determined to deliver it personally though he has no idea where to go. Smith presents Winston’s Christmas Eve trek in 24 minichapters, each assigned a December “day” and all closing with both twists or cliffhangers and instructions (mostly verbal, unfortunately) for one or more holiday-themed recipes or craft projects. Though he veers occasionally into preciosity (Winston “tried to ignore the grumbling, rumbling noises coming from his tummy”), he also infuses his holiday tale with worthy values. Occasional snowy scenes have an Edwardian look appropriate to the general tone, with a white default in place but a few dark-skinned figures in view. Less-crafty children will struggle with the scantly illustrated projects, which run from paper snowflakes to clothespin dolls and Christmas crackers with or without “snaps,” but lyrics to chestnuts like “The 12 Days of Christmas” (and “Jingle Bells,” which is not a Christmas song, but never mind) at the end invite everyone to sing along.
A Christmas cozy, read straight or bit by bit through the season. (Fantasy. 7-10)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-68412-983-6
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Silver Dolphin
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019
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Fantasy training wheels for chapter-book readers.
Elliot’s first day of school turns out to be more than he bargained for.
Elliot Eisner—skinny and pale with curly brown hair—is a bit nervous about being the new kid. Thankfully, he hits it off with fellow new student, “punk rock”–looking Uchenna Devereaux, a black girl with twists (though they actually look like dreads in Aly’s illustrations). On a first-day field trip to New Jersey’s Pine Barrens, the pair investigates a noise in the trees. The cause? A Jersey Devil: a blue-furred, red-bellied and -winged mythical creature that looks like “a tiny dragon” with cloven hooves, like a deer’s, on its hind feet. Unwittingly, the duo bonds with the creature by feeding it, and it later follows them back to the bus. Unsurprisingly, they lose the creature (which they alternately nickname Jersey and Bonechewer), which forces them to go to their intimidating, decidedly odd teacher, Peruvian Professor Fauna, for help in recovering it. The book closes with Professor Fauna revealing the truth—he heads a secret organization committed to protecting mythical creatures—and inviting the children to join, a neat setup for what is obviously intended to be a series. The predictable plot is geared to newly independent readers who are not yet ready for the usual heft of contemporary fantasies. A brief history lesson given by a mixed-race associate of Fauna’s in which she compares herself to the American “melting pot” manages to come across as simultaneously corrective and appropriative.
Fantasy training wheels for chapter-book readers. (Fantasy. 7-10)Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-7352-3170-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: March 4, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
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