Nethery includes both fact and fancy in her account of a stray cat’s elevation to celebrity status in 1890s Venice. Nini wanders into Nonna Framboni’s coffee shop one day, and, miraculously, his presence immediately improves the struggling shop’s bottom line. First, the composer Verdi stops by for a coffee and hears the perfect note in Nini’s meow. Then artists search for inspiration in his glowing green eyes, and poets seek him out as a potential muse. Royalty from various countries visit and send gifts, and even the pope makes a pilgrimage to meet the famous Nini. Many of these encounters actually occurred, although the author acknowledges embellishing the details. Manders’s illustrations, rendered in gouache and colored pencil, capture the humor implicit in the text’s (and Nonna Framboni’s) gentle hyperbole. Expressions, both human and feline, are often amusingly exaggerated, and the setting is simplified but well realized, ensuring that the focus remains squarely on the characters and their actions. Nonetheless it’s difficult to determine who might best appreciate this reimagining of admittedly obscure historical events. Pleasant but, perhaps, ultimately inconsequential. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: June 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-618-97769-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2010
Say hello to a relatable and rewarding early reader!
Fun with friends makes for a great day.
Norbit, a salmon-colored worm with a pink kerchief, joyfully greets the day and everyone he encounters. “Hello, friends! It’s time for fun with the sun! Let’s play!” He and his menagerie of forest pals—including the sun, who grows limbs and descends from the sky—exuberantly engage in various forms of physical activity such as jumping, going down a slide, spinning around, and watching the clouds go by. Young readers will readily relate, as these are games that most children are familiar with. As day turns to night, Norbit says farewell to Sun and welcomes Moon with an invitation to continue the fun. Watkins has created a vivid world of movement and merriment. Her illustrations feature bright bursts of color that match the energy of the text, with most sentences ending in an exclamation point. The author/illustrator incorporates many elements that make for an ideal early-reading experience (despite the use of a contraction or two): art free from clutter, text consisting of words with only one or two syllables, and repetition and recurring bits, such as a continued game of hide-and-seek with Sun. Inspired by never-before-seen sketches from the Dr. Seuss Collection archives at the University of California San Diego, this is the first title for Seuss Studios, a new imprint for original stories from “emerging authors and illustrators” who “honor Seuss’s hallmark spirit of creativity and imagination.”
Say hello to a relatable and rewarding early reader! (author's note) (Early reader. 5-8)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780593646212
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Seuss Studios
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
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
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