This “first day at a new school” tale doesn’t ring true. Newly arrived from Frollop II, blue-skinned George tapes a nose to his face in an effort to look more like his human classmates—but as he has persistent problems telling up from down, or keeping himself from turning into a tomato, he’s convinced everyone’s laughing up their sleeves. “They weren’t,” Wilson earnestly avers, even making George the recipient of reassuring peer hugs and kisses—but his cluelessness is so exaggerated that readers are far more likely to ridicule him than sympathize. His parents only make it worse; on the evening that George triumphs as the Moon in the school play, his mother comes with teabags dangling from her ears beneath toothbrush hair sticks, and his father glues on a lettuce leaf mustache. They draw barely a glance from others in the audience. Many stories that celebrate physical or cultural differences also teach tolerance, from Rosemary Wells’s conventional Yoko (1998) to Sam Swopes’s circus-like Araboolies of Liberty Street, illustrated by Barry Root (1989). This is so over-the-top that it may well make such differences easier to deride. (Picture book. 7-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2002
ISBN: 1-58246-063-9
Page Count: 38
Publisher: Tricycle
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2002
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Trickling, bubbling, swirling, rushing, a river flows down from its mountain beginnings, past peaceful country and bustling city on its way to the sea. Hooper (The Drop in My Drink, 1998, etc.) artfully evokes the water’s changing character as it transforms from “milky-cold / rattling-bold” to a wide, slow “sliding past mudflats / looping through marshes” to the end of its journey. Willey, best known for illustrating Geraldine McCaughrean’s spectacular folk-tale collections, contributes finely detailed scenes crafted in shimmering, intricate blues and greens, capturing mountain’s chill, the bucolic serenity of passing pastures, and a sense of mystery in the water’s shadowy depths. Though Hooper refers to “the cans and cartons / and bits of old wood” being swept along, there’s no direct conservation agenda here (for that, see Debby Atwell’s River, 1999), just appreciation for the river’s beauty and being. (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: June 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7636-0792-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2000
Every year since kindergarten, Harry’s Halloween costume has gotten scarier and scarier. What’s it going to be this year? He’s not telling. His classmates are all stunned when he shows up, not as some monster or a weird alien (well, not really)—but as neatly dressed Sgt. Joe Friday of Dragnet fame, wielding a notebook and out to get “just the facts, ma’am.” As she has in Harry’s 11 previous appearances (15, counting the ones his classmate Song Lee headlines), Kline (Marvin and the Mean Words, 1997, etc.) captures grammar-school atmosphere, personalities, and incidents perfectly, from snits to science projects gone hilariously wrong. She even hands Harry/Friday a chance to exercise his sleuthing abilities, with a supply of baby powder “fairy dust” gone mysteriously missing. As legions of fans have learned to expect, Harry comes through with flying colors, pinning down the remorseful culprit in 11 minutes flat. No surprises here, just reliable, child-friendly, middle-grade fare. Illustrations not seen. (Fiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-670-88864-8
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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