Sweet, warm, friendly, unique and utterly readable.
Some problems aren’t what you think they are, as this quietly humorous picture book illustrates.
J.D.’s got a problem: There’s a mouse scratching in his wall, and it’s keeping him awake at night. First, he consults a pet-store owner, who offers him a cat to get rid of the mouse. But the cat starts scratching, too! After the next sleepless night, J.D. calls a dogcatcher. “Maybe the dogcatcher can help me. He catches animals all day long.” The dogcatcher has a fantastical robot—sure to please detail-loving young kids—and promises to rid J.D. of the mouse. But the robot makes scratching noises, too! J.D. flees the house in desperation, followed closely by the mouse, who wants to explain that he was just sweeping his home, not scratching, and is done making noise now. Problem solved—no cat or complicated robot necessary. It’s just absurd enough for young audiences to enjoy. Gabriele (Sofia’s Backwards Day, 2012, etc.) uses language that is natural, simple and a pleasure to read out loud. Jones’ illustrations suit the tenor of the story to a T and add quirky details, like the line of owls that grows outside J.D.’s window as the drama unfolds. The story isn’t entirely satisfying, however: As soon as J.D. picks up the cat, it looks pretty obvious where the book is headed: down the road of other funny, cumulative folk stories and songs (think “The House that Jack Built” and “There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly”). But J.D. tries just two scratch-eradicating solutions before his problem solves itself. Since three seems to be the magic number in literature (and the bare minimum needed for a cumulative story, right?), the book feels unfinished, like it got just two-thirds of the way there. In the end, J.D., the mouse and the cat tuck themselves in and go to sleep. And, like a little mouse scratching at the wall, there’s a niggling question: That’s it? No twist? No little wink at the reader? It’s too bad. It would have been a nice cap to an otherwise enjoyable book.
Sweet, warm, friendly, unique and utterly readable.Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2012
ISBN: 978-0985608200
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Mirambel Publishing
Review Posted Online: June 4, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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