Matched to a hard-to-top title, Joosse’s (Ghost Trap, 1998, etc.) fourth neighborhood mystery featuring Wild Willie, with fellow junior detectives Kyle and Lucy, centers on puzzling changes of behavior in both a local bully and a parrot. It all begins when mean Chuckie Herman starts hanging around outside Lucy’s house, cleaned up, exuding cologne, making friendly conversation—in other words, showing every sign that his brain has been fried by aliens. Then Kyle’s parrot Scarface takes to making funny noises, and throwing up in Kyle’s hand. Aliens again? A trip to the vet, some clue-gathering, and consultation with adults suggests another possibility: love. Wielding pen and brush with characteristic vigor, Truesdell captures the detectives’ bug-eyed bafflement in a generous set of vignettes and larger sketches. As it turns out, Scarface is indeed expressing avian infatuation, and a more experienced cousin’s reassurance—“Love sorta rumbles around for a while. And then it passes. Like gas”—proves true for Chuckie, who reverts to his nasty old self in the end. Bright with high comedy and low, this unabashed ribtickler will find plenty of reluctant readers among its many fans. (Fiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2000
ISBN: 0-395-68964-3
Page Count: 104
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2000
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
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