HERE’S WHAT YOU DO WHEN YOU CAN’T FIND YOUR SHOE

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HERE’S WHAT YOU DO WHEN YOU CAN’T FIND YOUR SHOE

Name: HERE’S WHAT YOU DO WHEN YOU CAN’T FIND YOUR SHOE
Author: Andrea Perry
ISBN: 0-689-83067-X

INGENIOUS INVENTIONS FOR PESKY PROBLEMS

by Andrea Perry & illustrated by Alan Snow ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2003

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Enlisting the aid of Snow, creator of the modern classic, How Dogs Really Work (1993), Perry addresses a dozen common problems, from losing a shoe to carrying multiple packages in the rain, from walking a pet giraffe to cleaning between one’s toes. Most of her solutions involve contraptions such as the “Maximumbrella,” or the “Acme Super Spider Spotter”—the exceptions being “Veggie Be Gone,” a spray that sends vegetables shooting out of the shopping cart, “Filbert’s Footsie Floss” (see above), and the energetic crew of “Stink Stoppers,” specialists in removing animal odors. “When pumas are putrid, we powder their paws, / Once eagles have eaten, we clean off their claws, / We bathe every bobcat, perfume every pen. / We wipe down each walrus again and again.” Snow renders each Rube Goldberg–esque device in loving, baroque detail, and shows it in action too, wielded by smiling, satisfied cartoon customers. After children finish chortling, they may be tempted to design their own thingamajigs in the wake of this droll debut. (Picture book/poetry. 7-10)

Pub Date: March 1, 2003

ISBN: 0-689-83067-X

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Atheneum

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2002

Categories:

CHILDREN'S POETRY

- BOOK REVIEW
THE BICKLEBYS’ BIRDBATH
by Andrea Perry and illustrated by Roberta Angaramo

- BOOK REVIEW
THE SNACK SMASHER
by Andrea Perry & illustrated by Alan Snow

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POCKET POEMS

edited by Bobbi Katz & illustrated by Marylin Hafner ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2004

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With an eye toward easy memorization, Katz gathers over 50 short poems from the likes of Emily Dickinson, Valerie Worth, Jack Prelutsky, and Lewis Carroll, to such anonymous gems as “The Burp”—“Pardon me for being rude. / It was not me, it was my food. / It got so lonely down below, / it just popped up to say hello.” Katz includes five of her own verses, and promotes an evident newcomer, Emily George, with four entries. Hafner surrounds every selection with fine-lined cartoons, mostly of animals and children engaged in play, reading, or other familiar activities. Amid the ranks of similar collections, this shiny-faced newcomer may not stand out—but neither will it drift to the bottom of the class. (Picture book/poetry. 7-9)

Pub Date: March 1, 2004

ISBN: 0-525-47172-3

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Dutton

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2004

Categories:

CHILDREN'S POETRY

- BOOK REVIEW
NOTHING BUT A DOG
by Bobbi Katz and illustrated by Jane Manning

- BOOK REVIEW
MORE POCKET POEMS
by Bobbi Katz & illustrated by Deborah Zemke

- BOOK REVIEW
ONCE AROUND THE SUN
by Bobbi Katz & illustrated by LeUyen Pham

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DINOSAURS GALORE!

by Giles Andreae & illustrated by David Wojtowycz ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2005

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A dozen familiar dinosaurs introduce themselves in verse in this uninspired, if colorful, new animal gallery from the authors of Commotion in the Ocean (2000). Smiling, usually toothily, and sporting an array of diamonds, lightning bolts, spikes and tiger stripes, the garishly colored dinosaurs make an eye-catching show, but their comments seldom measure up to their appearance: “I’m a swimming reptile, / I dive down in the sea. / And when I spot a yummy squid, / I eat it up with glee!” (“Ichthyosaurus”) Next to the likes of Kevin Crotty’s Dinosongs (2000), illustrated by Kurt Vargo, or Jack Prelutsky’s classic Tyrannosaurus Was A Beast (1988), illustrated by Arnold Lobel, there’s not much here to roar about. (Picture book/poetry. 7-9)