Polacco presents another offering in her series of nostalgic Christmas stories set in snowy Michigan of yesteryear, this time in the 1930s.
Trisha and her older brother, Richie, live with their schoolteacher mother and their grandfather on the family farm. Their grandmother has recently died, and a new housekeeper arrives to help, in more ways than just by doing housework. Richie resents the new addition to the household, but Kay Lamity is a whirlwind of a character who can charm a sad boy, whip up a dinner and make angels out of corn husks, quick as you can say smart-talkin’, larger-than-life folk hero. Why, that Kay Lamity can “stare down an armadilla while dancin’ on the back of a wild boar.” As the Christmas season unfolds, Richie tells his younger sister that Santa isn’t real, upsetting the girl and threatening to ruin Christmas. Kindly, Kay helps the children regain their belief in Santa and start to accept the death of their grandmother and the impending sale of the farm. Polacco’s distinctive illustrations are filled with the usual cozy kitchens, snowy farm scenes and appealing children, but it’s Kay Lamity who stands out as the shining star of this touching, longer story. The story has humor, deeper meaning and a mystery as to Kay Lamity’s true identity. (Sharp-eyed readers will note that Kay bears a striking resemblance to Polacco’s photo on the jacket flap!) (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-399-16094-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2013
A nicely inventive little morality “tail” for newly independent readers.
Two little rats decide to show the world how tough they are, with unpredictable results.
Louie and Ralphie Ratso want to be just like their single dad, Big Lou: tough! They know that “tough” means doing mean things to other animals, like stealing Chad Badgerton’s hat. Chad Badgerton is a big badger, so taking that hat from him proves that Louie and Ralphie are just as tough as they want to be. However, it turns out that Louie and Ralphie have just done a good deed instead of a bad one: Chad Badgerton had taken that hat from little Tiny Crawley, a mouse, so when Tiny reclaims it, they are celebrated for goodness rather than toughness. Sadly, every attempt Louie and Ralphie make at doing mean things somehow turns nice. What’s a little boy rat supposed to do to be tough? Plus, they worry about what their dad will say when he finds out how good they’ve been. But wait! Maybe their dad has some other ideas? LaReau keeps the action high and completely appropriate for readers embarking on chapter books. Each of the first six chapters features a new, failed attempt by Louie and Ralphie to be mean, and the final, seventh chapter resolves everything nicely. The humor springs from their foiled efforts and their reactions to their failures. Myers’ sprightly grayscale drawings capture action and characters and add humorous details, such as the Ratsos’ “unwelcome” mat.
A nicely inventive little morality “tail” for newly independent readers. (Fiction. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7636-7636-0
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
A retro-futuristic romp, literally and figuratively screwy.
Robo-parents Diode and Lugnut present daughter Cathode with a new little brother—who requires, unfortunately, some assembly.
Arriving in pieces from some mechanistic version of Ikea, little Flange turns out to be a cute but complicated tyke who immediately falls apart…and then rockets uncontrollably about the room after an overconfident uncle tinkers with his basic design. As a squad of helpline techies and bevies of neighbors bearing sludge cake and like treats roll in, the cluttered and increasingly crowded scene deteriorates into madcap chaos—until at last Cath, with help from Roomba-like robodog Sprocket, stages an intervention by whisking the hapless new arrival off to a backyard workshop for a proper assembly and software update. “You’re such a good big sister!” warbles her frazzled mom. Wiesner’s robots display his characteristic clean lines and even hues but endearingly look like vaguely anthropomorphic piles of random jet-engine parts and old vacuum cleaners loosely connected by joints of armored cable. They roll hither and thither through neatly squared-off panels and pages in infectiously comical dismay. Even the end’s domestic tranquility lasts only until Cathode spots the little box buried in the bigger one’s packing material: “TWINS!” (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-22-inch double-page spreads viewed at 52% of actual size.)
A retro-futuristic romp, literally and figuratively screwy. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-544-98731-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2020
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