by Monica A. Harris & illustrated by Susan Estelle Kwas ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 15, 2004
Readers unable to absorb pun-ishment, beware! Rambunctious young Henry ignores warnings that his noise will wake the dead—until it does just that. Rising from the local cemetery, a band of irritated corpses goes in search of the racket’s source. Is it the library? No, only dead silence there. The Mayor’s office? Nothing there but skeletons in the closet. The Dead Letter Office? Nope. Relentlessly giving every conceivable expression involving death a literal turn, Harris sends the searchers—portrayed in Kwas’s cartoon illustrations as shrouded but unfrightening figures with peanut-shaped heads—from swimming pool (“A boneheaded idea, since they were dead in the water”) to the park where they’re set to “work their fingers to the bone pushing up daisies.” At last they catch up with Henry, who tries to put them back down with games (“Kick the Bucket”), races (ending in a dead heat), and dance music (“Staying Alive”)—but in the end, it’s a good, old-fashioned bedtime story (Goodnight Goon) that does the trick. A dead cinch for storytime. (Picture book. 6-9)
Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2004
ISBN: 0-8027-8922-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Walker
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2004
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by Meredith Hooper & illustrated by Bee Willey ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 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
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by Melissa Thomson and illustrated by Frank Morrison ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2009
Keena Ford’s second-grade class is taking a field trip to the United States Capitol. This good-hearted girl works hard to behave, but her impulsive decisions have a way of backfiring, no matter how hard she tries to do the right thing. In this second book in a series, Keena cuts off one of her braids and later causes a congressman to fall down the stairs. The first-person journal format is a stretch—most second graders can barely write, let alone tell every detail of three days of her life. Children will wonder how Keena can cut one of her “two thick braids” all the way off by pretend-snipping in the air. They will be further confused because the cover art clearly shows Keena with a completely different hairdo on the field trip than the one described. Though a strong African-American heroine is most welcome in chapter books and Keena and her family are likable and realistic, this series needs more polish before Keena writes about her next month in school. (Fiction. 6-9)
Pub Date: July 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3264-3
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2009
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