There are many ways to make your fortune, as a boy and his father serendipitously find when they relocate to the Klondike wilderness during the gold rush. Noah disobeys his father’s wishes by bringing the family cat, Shadow, on the arduous journey to their new home in gold country. Noah and his Pa must work hard to move the huge bulk of supplies downriver, and Pa condescends to allow Shadow along if she is no trouble, therefore Noah balances his heavy loads with concerns over the beloved kitty. With hard work, courage, and aplomb, the pair reaches their goal in the end only to find the gold claims are either staked already or too expensive. There is no room for sentimentality in the Klondike, and Lawson (Destination Gold!, not reviewed, etc.) never mentions what has happened to the mother, but she uses other realistic touches such as the kitty disappearing into the ship on the first leg of the trip, creating a believable slice of robust American pioneer history. She trudges her characters up hill, down dale, and over a snow-covered mountain to a hard-flowing river. In the end, Shadow brings them luck and financial reward so the trio can start their new lives together after all. Mombourquette’s (Fog Cat, 1999, etc.) illustrations are broad brushed and colorful, evoking the gritty spirit that opened this last frontier. A lengthy historical note includes a synopsis of the actual history of the territory and era addressed in the story. (Picture book 5-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2002
ISBN: 1-55337-013-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2002
The wriggly narrator of Diary of a Worm (2003) puts in occasional appearances, but it’s his arachnid buddy who takes center stage here, with terse, tongue-in-cheek comments on his likes (his close friend Fly, Charlotte’s Web), his dislikes (vacuums, people with big feet), nervous encounters with a huge Daddy Longlegs, his extended family—which includes a Grandpa more than willing to share hard-won wisdom (The secret to a long, happy life: “Never fall asleep in a shoe.”)—and mishaps both at spider school and on the human playground. Bliss endows his garden-dwellers with faces and the odd hat or other accessory, and creates cozy webs or burrows colorfully decorated with corks, scraps, plastic toys and other human detritus. Spider closes with the notion that we could all get along, “just like me and Fly,” if we but got to know one another. Once again, brilliantly hilarious. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-06-000153-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Joanna Cotler/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2005
Give this child’s-eye view of a day at the beach with an attentive father high marks for coziness: “When your ball blows across the sand and into the ocean and starts to drift away, your daddy could say, Didn’t I tell you not to play too close to the waves? But he doesn’t. He wades out into the cold water. And he brings your ball back to the beach and plays roll and catch with you.” Alley depicts a moppet and her relaxed-looking dad (to all appearances a single parent) in informally drawn beach and domestic settings: playing together, snuggling up on the sofa and finally hugging each other goodnight. The third-person voice is a bit distancing, but it makes the togetherness less treacly, and Dad’s mix of love and competence is less insulting, to parents and children both, than Douglas Wood’s What Dads Can’t Do (2000), illus by Doug Cushman. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: May 23, 2005
ISBN: 0-618-00361-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2005
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