The whimsical journal of a cat, chronicling its nine lives, lived through the ages. A note explains how the cat’s owner, Mamie Pennyfellow, found it lying under her couch; another note, from the publisher, explains the thinking behind its publication, as well as the scrutiny of the manuscript undertaken by experts. Clio’s first entry dates back to Mesopotamia, in 3000 b.c., where the feisty feline helped to name the constellations. The next entry jumps ahead 1500 years to China, where Clio inadvertently becomes the world’s first sundial. With each new life, Clio makes her mark, whether she’s helping Leonardo with his inventions, inspiring the Roman alphabet, or accidentally aiming Leif Eriksson toward America. Her most recent contribution is nine new lives—kittens. Using a variety of illustrative styles but keeping the look of this “find” deliberately rough, Priceman (How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World, 1994, etc.) inscribes the historical record on brown parchment; with its footnotes and hand-lettered entries, this entertaining diary is most convincing. (Picture book. 6-10)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-689-81135-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1998
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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