Vacationing penguins Gertie and Gus arrive at Holiday Island dressed in their best, only to find themselves at seedy OTEL, where the Bad Guys Club meets, rather than the elegant Hotel de View, which they’d booked. It’s not long before the “rascally rowdies, wretched wharf rats, riffraff, and ruffians,” including the wily weasel, the agile alligator, and other alliterative animals, rip off Gertie’s “beautiful, valuable deep sea pearl.” Enter the Law, spectacularly depicted as a mirror-sunglassed, motorcycle-riding, mean-looking warthog. Questioning ensues, during which readers can spot the miscreant in an array of arresting, clue-filled watercolors based on camera-happy Gus’s Polaroids: “See this picture of a cowboy boot with a bulge in it?” Gus asks, and the chase is on. Far be it from bad guys to pass up a ride in an officer’s sidecar, but Gertie wants speed and tosses them out. The “scummy scallywags” pursue the Law to the Hotel de View and help catch the thief, adding to a high-spirited denouement, in which deGroat (One Small Dog, p. 1118, etc.) illustrates her ability to lampoon snobs as well as lowlifes, a satisfying conclusion to an adventure that shows there’s no place like home. Here is high action, deft characterization to the depth needed, lots of brightly colored pictures, and built-in interactivity in a first chapter book for young mystery fans. (Fiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2000
ISBN: 1-58717-022-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: NorthSouth
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2000
Bishop’s spectacular photographs of the tiny red-eyed tree frog defeat an incidental text from Cowley (Singing Down the Rain, 1997, etc.). The frog, only two inches long, is enormous in this title; it appears along with other nocturnal residents of the rain forests of Central America, including the iguana, ant, katydid, caterpillar, and moth. In a final section, Cowley explains how small the frog is and aspects of its life cycle. The main text, however, is an afterthought to dramatic events in the photos, e.g., “But the red-eyed tree frog has been asleep all day. It wakes up hungry. What will it eat? Here is an iguana. Frogs do not eat iguanas.” Accompanying an astonishing photograph of the tree frog leaping away from a boa snake are three lines (“The snake flicks its tongue. It tastes frog in the air. Look out, frog!”) that neither advance nor complement the action. The layout employs pale and deep green pages and typeface, and large jewel-like photographs in which green and red dominate. The combination of such visually sophisticated pages and simplistic captions make this a top-heavy, unsatisfying title. (Picture book. 7-9)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-590-87175-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1999
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
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