In this wickedly humorous tale about the importance of manners, Bloom (The Bus for Us, not reviewed, etc.) brings the reader into Mrs. Hubbub’s classroom, where the children spend the day learning an unforgettable lesson in respect. In rhyming fashion, the reader discovers a selfish bunch of classmates who have forgotten such cooperative lessons as sharing, taking turns, and saying “please.” Without regard for being polite, each child, limb by limb, begins transforming into a pig. “Meanwhile Tommy picked his nose and found he’d grown a snout.” In place of hands there are hooves, then long, pointed ears and squiggly tails complete the picture. Their speech becomes nothing more than a grunt. When the school nurse determines that this is a job for a specialist, Pig Lady is called to the rescue. She does a wonderful job at helping the children discover for themselves how much more pleasing people and relationships are when good manners are used. With each good deed, pig parts begin to disappear, and when all the children are human once again, they recall what they learned and get along. Bloom illustrates with richly colored gouache and colored pencils on solid white paper, creating the figures in a variety of schoolhouse settings. The shadowing is scarce, giving the illusion that everything is suspended in air. Blending the two art forms helps create bold contrasts, and black line lends definition to the work. A needed theme with enough wit to make it palatable. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-8075-6529-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2001
Continuing to find inspiration in the work of Virginia Lee Burton, Munro Leaf and other illustrators of the past, Long (The Little Engine That Could, 2005) offers an aw-shucks friendship tale that features a small but hardworking tractor (“putt puff puttedy chuff”) with a Little Toot–style face and a big-eared young descendant of Ferdinand the bull who gets stuck in deep, gooey mud. After the big new yellow tractor, crowds of overalls-clad locals and a red fire engine all fail to pull her out, the little tractor (who had been left behind the barn to rust after the arrival of the new tractor) comes putt-puff-puttedy-chuff-ing down the hill to entice his terrified bovine buddy successfully back to dry ground. Short on internal logic but long on creamy scenes of calf and tractor either gamboling energetically with a gaggle of McCloskey-like geese through neutral-toned fields or resting peacefully in the shade of a gnarled tree (apple, not cork), the episode will certainly draw nostalgic adults. Considering the author’s track record and influences, it may find a welcome from younger audiences too. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-399-25248-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2009
SEEN & HEARD
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.
How to raise money for a coveted poster: put your friends to work!
John, founder of the FUBU fashion line and a Shark Tank venture capitalist, offers a self-referential blueprint for financial success. Having only half of the $10 he needs for a Minka J poster, Daymond forks over $1 to buy a plain T-shirt, paints a picture of the pop star on it, sells it for $5, and uses all of his cash to buy nine more shirts. Then he recruits three friends to decorate them with his design and help sell them for an unspecified amount (from a conveniently free and empty street-fair booth) until they’re gone. The enterprising entrepreneur reimburses himself for the shirts and splits the remaining proceeds, which leaves him with enough for that poster as well as a “brand-new business book,” while his friends express other fiscal strategies: saving their share, spending it all on new art supplies, or donating part and buying a (math) book with the rest. (In a closing summation, the author also suggests investing in stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrency.) Though Miles cranks up the visual energy in her sparsely detailed illustrations by incorporating bright colors and lots of greenbacks, the actual advice feels a bit vague. Daymond is Black; most of the cast are people of color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-56727-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
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