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HARVEY'S MYSTIFYING RACCOON MIX-UP

Name: HARVEY'S MYSTIFYING RACCOON MIX-UP
Author: Eth Clifford
ISBN: 0-395-68714-4

by Eth Clifford ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1994

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One night Harvey (Harvey's Marvelous Monkey Mystery, 1987, etc.) and his cousin Nora see a prowler with a shotgun hanging out in Harvey's yard. They watch, mystified, as the thin stranger in black lifts his gun and shoots at a branch outside Harvey's window. The branch falls into Harvey's room, and with it an adorable raccoon and a plate for printing counterfeit $20 bills. The next morning neighbors come by to find out what the shots were: Mrs. Motley, a nice if nosy woman from next door, and the nurse who recently moved into the area with an old woman she cares for. The raccoon runs out of the house with the plate. They catch him and bring him back. That night the prowler returns, this time with an accomplice. Harvey and Nora hear noises from the attic and go up to investigate. The two prowlers catch them, but Harvey and Nora escape and Harvey solves the mystery: The old woman and her nurse, who only leave their house at night, are actually Wally Warble and his accomplice, Kookie Smith, counterfeiters. Unfortunately, by the time the police come, Wally and Kookie are long gone. Another amusing little book from Clifford. (Fiction. 7- 10)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1994

ISBN: 0-395-68714-4

Page Count: 112

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1994

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

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RIVER STORY

by Meredith Hooper & illustrated by Bee Willey ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 2000

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
CELEBRITY CAT
by Meredith Hooper & illustrated by Bee Willey

- BOOK REVIEW
GOLD QUEST
by Meredith Hooper & illustrated by Stephen Biesty

- BOOK REVIEW
STEPHEN BIESTY’S CASTLES
by Meredith Hooper & illustrated by Stephen Biesty

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THE SINGING ROCK & OTHER BRAND-NEW FAIRY TALES

by Nathaniel Lachenmeyer ; illustrated by Simini Blocker ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 18, 2019

Alert readers will find the implicit morals: know your audience, mostly, but also never underestimate the power of “rock”...

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The theme of persistence (for better or worse) links four tales of magic, trickery, and near disasters.

Lachenmeyer freely borrows familiar folkloric elements, subjecting them to mildly comical twists. In the nearly wordless “Hip Hop Wish,” a frog inadvertently rubs a magic lamp and finds itself saddled with an importunate genie eager to shower it with inappropriate goods and riches. In the title tale, an increasingly annoyed music-hating witch transforms a persistent minstrel into a still-warbling cow, horse, sheep, goat, pig, duck, and rock in succession—then is horrified to catch herself humming a tune. Athesius the sorcerer outwits Warthius, a rival trying to steal his spells via a parrot, by casting silly ones in Ig-pay Atin-lay in the third episode, and in the finale, a painter’s repeated efforts to create a flattering portrait of an ogre king nearly get him thrown into a dungeon…until he suddenly understands what an ogre’s idea of “flattering” might be. The narratives, dialogue, and sound effects leave plenty of elbow room in Blocker’s big, brightly colored panels for the expressive animal and human(ish) figures—most of the latter being light skinned except for the golden genie, the blue ogre, and several people of color in the “Sorcerer’s New Pet.”

Alert readers will find the implicit morals: know your audience, mostly, but also never underestimate the power of “rock” music. (Graphic short stories. 8-10)