giggle. Silly good fun. (Picture book. 4-8)
A common fantasy that children will immediately recognize is the hook in this offbeat picture book.
Late one night, Nicholas tells us even before the title page, "an old lady in a pointed hat" turned up in his room, said her spell, and disappeared. In the morning, Nicholas’s mom wakes him up and gets him off to school, but the pictures show the boy with his head in the cat bowl and sure enough, he’s become his cat, Leonardo. He begins to enjoy cat things—he knocks over a shelf, takes a nap, and tussles with a few other cats and the neighborhood dog. When Nicholas comes home from school, it’s really Leonardo, fighting with his shoes, stalking the goldfish, and finding the litter box "irresistible." A distraught mom calls the doctor, who decides everyone is overtired; that night the old lady returns, apologizes for having the wrong address, and cat and boy become themselves again the next day. The illustrations, with their flat colors and nervous edges, resemble Japanese anime, and the endpapers with their ghostly cat heads are fabulous. Whom the old lady meant to ensorcell accords the final
giggle. Silly good fun. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 6, 2000
ISBN: 0-374-34906-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2000
Baker (Big Fat Hen, 1994, etc.) engages in more number play, posing ducklings in every combination of groups, e.g., “Splashing as they leap and dive/7 ducklings, 2 plus 5.” Using a great array of streaked and dappled papers, Baker creates a series of leafy collage scenes for the noisy, exuberant ducklings to fill, tucking in an occasional ladybug or other small creature for sharp-eyed pre-readers to spot. Children will regretfully wave goodbye as the ducks fly off in neat formation at the end of this brief, painless introduction to several basic math concepts. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-15-292858-8
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1999
Big Brown Bear, with a natty bowler hat, is all set to paint the house in this cheerful Level 1 reader. Every page presents a full-color scene and a few words of easily predicted, often rhyming text: “Bear is big. Bear is brown. Bear goes up. He comes down.” Big Bear climbs a ladder with a pail of blue paint, while nearby, Little Bear plays with a ball and bat—“Oh no! Little Bear! Do not do that!” These are simple words, but sometimes challenging ones, e.g., there are two uses of up, as in climbing the ladder and washing up. The pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations provide nearly ideal context, while also amplifying the story. The format is attractive and practical, featuring large type on a white background that is placed for easy reading. Beginning readers will be amused by the gentle humor in the book, and feel accomplished to have tackled it themselves. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-15-201999-5
Page Count: 20
Publisher: Green Light/Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1999
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
