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BEARHIDE AND CROW

Name: BEARHIDE AND CROW
Author: Paul Brett Johnson
ISBN: 0-8234-1470-1

by Paul Brett Johnson ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 15, 2000

that are certain to tickle your funny bone. Who among us doesn’t like to have the last laugh? (Fiction. 3-5)

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An amusing tale based on Appalachian folklore, in which it is said crows can be taught to speak. Amos Dyer is the

laughingstock of his town, thanks to his penchant for swapping quality items for worthless garbage. Sent by his wife to get a new gourd for the well, Amos finds one but trades it for a flea-ridden bearskin from Sam Hankins, who has touted it as being magical. Hearing robbers discussing hidden gold on the Hankins property, Amos is given the perfect opportunity to clear his name and prove he’s capable of making clever decisions. He pretends a crow has told him the location of the gold; then, he trades the crow to Hankins for half the gold. Convincing Hankins that the bearskin was, indeed, magical, Amos has the final laugh when Hankins eagerly trades the remaining gold. Pencil sketches painted with acrylics depict the surprising turn of events

that are certain to tickle your funny bone. Who among us doesn’t like to have the last laugh? (Fiction. 3-5)

Pub Date: March 15, 2000

ISBN: 0-8234-1470-1

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Holiday House

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2000

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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CAN YOU HOP?

by Lisa Lawston ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1999

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Hopping is not hard, for a frog, but when he asks other animals to join him, he finds that bats flap, lobsters snap, and dust flies when an especially large rhinoceros stomps. None of the creatures can do what the frog does so well, until he meets a rabbit, and it becomes a friendship bound by bounding. Vere’s creatures are reminiscent of Sandra Boynton’s: smiling, bright, and lively, unrestrained by this board book’s small dimensions. A hopping good time. (Board book. 1-4)

Pub Date: March 1, 1999

ISBN: 0-531-30131-1

Page Count: 22

Publisher: Orchard

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1999

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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OVERHEAD

by Jack M. Bickham ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 20, 1991

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Tennis pro, Vietnam vet, and intelligence operative Brad Smith, who first served in Dropshot (1990), quits an irritating job in Texas to head for Montana, where his unusual skills are needed to open a new tennis resort and locate a murderous nearby secret agent. Well, whom else would you call to clean out the spies plaguing a mysterious Air Force lab just a backhand away from a troubled tennis camp? The debt-ridden sports resort, just bought by Smith's old tennis and spying pal Ted Treacher, provides the perfect cover for Smith—the only tennis-playing spy in America capable of recognizing his old archenemy Sylvester, the Soviet spy responsible for the death of Smith's late Yugoslavian tennis- playing wife. Sylvester, operating with a completely new face fresh from the plastic surgeon, is in Big Sky country to snatch a bit of strategic-defense technology from the research lab whose powerful secret electromagnetic pulses have been giving the local children leukemia. Also neighboring the resort is a secret toxic- waste dump owned by a beautiful but ruthless capitalist hussy who wants to close down the country club so she can get her toxic wastes back. Smith has to sort out all these secrets while cleaning up the financial and managerial mess his chum has made of what should be a fabulous destination for rich tennis players. Sylvester shoots at him, a sadistic deputy shoots at him, and Ivan Lendl shoots at him. Bodies pop out of the golf course. Credibility crushed in straight sets 6-2, 6-0, 6-1.