"Considerably more edgy satire than Happily Ever After here; a bracing take for teens. (Poetry. 12-16)"
From Puss in Boots' swaggering descendant "Puss-in-Trainers" to the titular break-and-enter artist caught on security cameras, Agard lays urban-inflected modern twists on 29 folkloric characters.
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"Steer readers who can't face the original to Marcus Sanders and Sandow Birk's weirdly campy but grand illustrated rendition, Dante's Divine Comedy (2004). (Poetry. 12-15)"
"In the middle of my childhood wonder / I woke to find myself in a forest / that was—how shall I put it—wild and sombre."
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"A good choice for armchair archaeologists and time-travelers alike. (Picture book. 6-8)"
Waking after a sudden fall, a lad finds himself back in the Stone Age, where he's taken in by a peaceful extended family of hunters, tries his hand at flint-knapping and gets a glimpse of marvelous cave paintings.
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"A limp effort, particularly next to John Lithgow's exuberant interpretation, illustrated by Boris Kulikov (2004). (CD) (Picture book. 7-9)"
From James Berry's grand "Lion," "staring with fearless look / Wild beast outdoing all," to Kit Wright's annoyed hens, who dismiss the proud cock as "just a feathered fathead / With a very silly walk!" the 13 new, short poems here echo the general tone of each section in Saint-Saëns's ever-popular work—though to call them "inspired" is, with some notable exceptions, pushing it.
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"The other characters appropriately use hoof, paw, beak, etc. The message is underplayed while the comic details colorfully add to the appeal. (Picture book. 4-8)"
Members of the Hoof Lane Art Club are excited about the exhibition of their work, except for Pablo, the elephant.
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"Young readers (or teachers, for that matter) wondering what school is really for may get a clue here. (Picture book. 6-8)"
This import pays tribute to inspirational teachers everywhere with a tale of an "ordinary" child whose dormant imagination blooms in the classroom.
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"Kitamura knows cats, as readers who know cats will agree—after they finish laughing. (Picture book. 6-8)"
Seldom is the text, all of which is in dozens of dialogue balloons, more than incidental in this set of feline hijinks from Kitamura (Me and My Cat?, 2000), and several episodes are entirely wordless.
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"With its companion, A Friend for Boots, this one joins Kitamura's other board books (Duck Is Dirty, Cat Is Sleepy, etc., 1996) in offering some very brief but jovial outings for toddlers. (Board books. 1-3)"
In general, cats hate baths, and Boots will do anything to avoid a scrubdown.
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"Companion volumes are Squirrel Is Hungry (0-374-37171-7), Cat Is Sleepy (31223-0), and Dog Is Thirsty (31806-9). (Board book. 1-3)"
Duck Is Dirty ($4.95; August 26, 1996; 16 pp.; 0-374-31885-9): This book recounts the modest tribulations of Duck during a potentially pleasant stroll.
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"Kitamura's bee-busy, lighthearted illustrations prevent the exercise from becoming too professorial; his trademark clutter will keep children poring over the pages. (Picture book. 2-6)"
"It would be fun to package this with Fleischman's Joyful Noise (1988) and Osborne's Spider Kane mysteries (p. 667) for kids who've outgrown Eric Carle's creepy-crawlies. (Song book. 8-12)"
Verbal, musical, and visual wit: 17 songs, with simple piano accompaniments, about centipedes, head lice, snails, and more.
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"Oram tells her familiar tale with imagination and dry wit, nicely matched in the energetically comic illustrations: these dinosaurs have real style and charm. (Picture book. 4-8)"
``A boy wants...a boy should have...,'' asserts Grandfather, and takes him to the four-story, glass-encased, dinosaur-shaped Dino-Store to choose one.
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