Beware, all grown-ups who are contemplating being mean to a child. Do so at your peril. Pay no heed to this warning and you’ll be in for . . . the Giggler Treatment! In this funny, very silly, and very gross story for middle graders, Booker-winning Irish author Doyle (for adults, A Star Called Henry, 1999, etc.) proposes that dog poo—a word he deeply enjoys using and describing—lays around for the punishment of adults who are unkind to kids. The Gigglers, color-changing, elf-like creatures, have, since the beginning of time, paid dogs (or other animals) for their droppings and left the stuff around so that unsuspecting, mean adults might step in it. Mr. Mack, the intended victim here, is about to be “treated” on his way to the train station because he sent his two sons to bed without dinner the night before. In painstaking detail, readers are given a running countdown of how many minutes and inches are left before Mr. Mack’s foot hits its mark. At the last moment, though, when the boys explain away their father’s behavior, the whole Mack clan, the Gigglers, and Rover, the dog who anted up, give wild chase to the station, via Egypt and Paris, to prevent the disaster from happening. Piled with words that denote a variety of body functions and wastes, this ludicrous book should more than please the most fervent among the gross-out set. Wait till they see what passes for chapters here, too: one’s named for the author’s mother (so that he could stay up late) and another, for his refrigerator. Includes an exquisitely wacky glossary. (Fiction. 7-11)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-439-16299-8
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2000
Simple, bella, un regalo permenente: simple and beautiful, a gift that will stay.
Renowned Latin American writer Alvarez has created another story about cultural identity, but this time the primary character is 11-year-old Miguel Guzmán.
When Tía Lola arrives to help the family, Miguel and his hermana, Juanita, have just moved from New York City to Vermont with their recently divorced mother. The last thing Miguel wants, as he's trying to fit into a predominantly white community, is a flamboyant aunt who doesn't speak a word of English. Tía Lola, however, knows a language that defies words; she quickly charms and befriends all the neighbors. She can also cook exotic food, dance (anywhere, anytime), plan fun parties, and tell enchanting stories. Eventually, Tía Lola and the children swap English and Spanish ejercicios, but the true lesson is "mutual understanding." Peppered with Spanish words and phrases, Alvarez makes the reader as much a part of the "language" lessons as the characters. This story seamlessly weaves two culturaswhile letting each remain intact, just as Miguel is learning to do with his own life. Like all good stories, this one incorporates a lesson just subtle enough that readers will forget they're being taught, but in the end will understand themselves, and others, a little better, regardless of la lengua nativa—the mother tongue.
Simple, bella, un regalo permenente: simple and beautiful, a gift that will stay. (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-375-80215-0
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Donavan's friends collect buttons and marbles, but he collects words. ``NUTRITION,'' ``BALLYHOO,'' ``ABRACADABRA''—these and other words are safely stored on slips of paper in a jar. As it fills, Donavan sees a storage problem developing and, after soliciting advice from his teacher and family, solves it himself: Visiting his grandma at a senior citizens' apartment house, he settles a tenants' argument by pulling the word ``COMPROMISE'' from his jar and, feeling ``as if the sun had come out inside him,'' discovers the satisfaction of giving his words away. Appealingly detailed b&w illustrations depict Donavan and his grandma as African-Americans. This Baltimore librarian's first book is sure to whet readers' appetites for words, and may even start them on their own savory collections. (Fiction. 8-11)
Pub Date: June 30, 1994
ISBN: 0-06-020190-8
Page Count: 72
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
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