"Pelley's text is brightly humorous and musical—'Now that he was the town's official measurer, Magnus Maximus had to measure all kinds of NESSes, from the wobbliness of a jellyfish to the itchiness of an itch'—and that goes for Schindler's illustrations as well, with their busily elegant line work, their lustrous washes of color and, best of all, their high and brilliant tomfoolery. (Picture book. 5-10)"
Magnus Maximus has a walrus mustache, a benign countenance and a preoccupation: measuring and counting.
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The tallyman is a census-taker, and in Davies's book, he is Phineas Bump—"heartsick, saddle-sore, and down on his luck"—and something of a clever-boots poking through the "rooty Vermont woods" in 1790 to take his count of the locals.
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"Capped with a fuller picture of the work of Lomax and his son Alan, as well as enticing source notes, this account can't help but broaden the insight of little dogies everywhere into the histories and meaning of these enduringly popular songs. (Picture book/biography. 7-9)"
Interspersing her narrative with verses from "Home on the Range," "Sweet Betsy from Pike," "The Old Chisholm Trail" and like cowboy chestnuts, Hopkinson retraces the early career of the greatest collector and recorder of American folk songs ever.
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"It should find a ready audience—of children, as well as parents—to cherish it. (Illustrated fiction. 8-10)"
In a pair of cozy read-aloud tales, Doc, a worn plush bear discarded when his hospital's Children's Ward is spruced up, meets a quartet of like survivors in a dump, lends expert aid to reset a blackbird's dislocated wing and later pitches in to get a lost toy bunny back to its distraught boy.
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"Schindler's colored inks and gouache in a wry, slightly exaggerated style capture the Victorian setting perfectly, vivacious line and muted color making a fine winter bedtime treat. (Picture book. 4-8)"
A spirited text and humorously detailed line-and-color illustrations discuss the evolving nature of dinosaur research, emphasizing the ways recent discoveries have changed the ways paleontologists understand the always-fascinating creatures.
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"Though not quite as intimate a glimpse into Thoreau's character as D.B. Johnson's Henry Hikes to Fitchburg (2000) and its sequels, this too will leave readers curious to know more about this gentle rebel. (biographical afterword) (Picture book. 7-9)"
In this well meant (if a little overdone) tribute, the great maverick Thoreau shrugs off the scorn of Concord's bustling, consumerist townsfolk—some of whom exhibit respiratory ailments from the sooty air—and builds his cabin near Walden Pond.
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"It's a lovely paean to the power of story and the words that carry it along. (Fiction. 8-12)"
Into Bernie's barn, filled with castoff animals he has either actively collected or hasn't the heart to refuse, wanders Whittington the cat, an ugly bruiser of a tom who seeks community.
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"Those wanting a more gentle take on the tale will enjoy the read. (Picture book. 5-8)"
In this variation of the folk theme in which mortals cheat death, Grandy Thaxter is a sturdy old New Englander in a solid clapboard house and Mister Death is a tall, lanky old fellow dressed in black tails and top hat.
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"Schindler's comical rendition captures the Eastern European environment; however this is needless folly even for Chelm. (Folktales. 6-9)"
Hanukkah is approaching, the Rabbi's out of town, and the villagers have forgotten how to celebrate, so they send Yossel to the next town to find out what the traditional observance entails.
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"Lewis shows an all-too-common tendency to drop or add syllables to his rhymed lines at random, but he expertly captures the rumbling drama of the pumpkin's descent, and sets up the punch line perfectly. (Picture book. 6-8)"
Lewis and Schindler transform a tale usually associated with Thanksgiving into a "thumpety bumpety thumpin' bumpin' round and roll-y" Halloween disaster-in-the-making, narrowly averted by some quick thinking and ending with a hilarious twist.
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"The monster-ridden cast and ghoulish goulash will elicit choruses of delighted 'Eeeewwwwws!' (Picture book. 6-8)"
In jaunty rhyme, one witch gathers up a fish tail from two cats, a blackbird's claw from three scarecrows, and similarly appetizing ingredients from similarly iconic ookie-spookies, up to the spider's soup donated by ten werewolves.
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"Back matter provides a web-preserving activity and offers two Web sites for further consultation. (Picture book/nonfiction. 5-8)"
A beautifully illustrated, informative entry in the Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science series explores the biology of spinning spiders.
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"For all the hiccupping, this outing has a quiet feel not up to the standards of some of Cuyler's earlier books, but the right audience will enjoy its fun. (Picture book. 4-6)"
Who hasn't shared the aggravation of a whole day's worth of bone-rattling hiccups?
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"Readers of this title will never again look at fish and chips in quite the same way. (Nonfiction. 10-12)"
An awesome introduction for young readers to the Atlantic codfish by the author of the bestselling adult title, Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World (1997).
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Schindler (Hog Music, 2000, etc.) beautifully illustrates a poem from the Benéts' Book of Americans (1933) with spacious scenes of a cheerful, bearded, apple-cheeked wanderer, sometimes seen in youth, sometimes in old age, juggling apples and tending both gnarled fruit trees and slender saplings in sunny, sparsely settled landscapes.
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"Diane Stanley's Roughing It on the Oregon Trail (p. 722) does a better job of capturing the flavor of the journey by wagon train. (Picture book/poetry. 7-9)"
A pioneer family travels from Independence, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, in a covered wagon some time in the 19th century.
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"Best of all here is Antle's (Lost in the War, 1998, etc.) delight in language, humorously conveyed to readers, as pure an encouragement as can be to keep turning the pages and a good introduction to the pleasures of wordplay. (Easy reader. 6-8)"
This easy-to-read comic adventure yarn, for all its simplicity, has real narrative momentum and a pleasing mess of puns, while Schindler's fine ink-and-watercolor illustrations lend the tale an even greater merriment.
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"Schindler provides nice symmetry between Crow's shiny treasures and Emma's under-the-bed box. (Picture book. 3-8)"
From DeFelice (Willy's Silly Grandma, 1997, etc.), a rollicking, rhyming read-aloud with a clever little girl and the crow of the title.
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"A gentle drama about an odd fish out—it is captured in the pail but escapes when the small pail-wielder's attention is claimed elsewhere—will appeal to children and boost their confidence in taking on more difficult reading material. (Fiction. 4-6)"
This My First I Can Read title is a rhythmic puzzle for the youngest of readers.
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``A bat flew into the dining room,/at the hotel restaurant by the lake./Mistake.'' Dragonwagon (Alligators and Others All Year Long, 1993, etc.) pens a lilting, loosely rhymed text about a bat who finds itself in an alien indoor environment, the human pandemonium that ensues, and the observant little girl who imagines how the bat must feel.
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"Younger listeners may need help with Lissie's interruptions story; older ones may want more information on tundra micespecifically, what becomes of the mice when their burrows are invaded or crushed by humans, as they are here. (Picture book. 5-8)"
McDonald (see review above) and Schindler have created an uncommon blend of folkways and natural history that underscores a gracefully told, lovingly illustrated Christmas story.
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"Schindler's best pen-and-ink efforts, suggestive of Edward Gorey in New England mode, put some meat on these bones, but this sputtering tale wouldn't spook Ichabod Crane. (Picture book. 4-8)"
When old Nicholas Greebe dies on a wintry day, his shivering family buries him hastily in a shallow grave.
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"The story's length, theme, and complexity may not recommend it to younger readers, but it will reward those school-age children just beginning to struggle to keep up with the latest fads. (Picture book. 3-8)"
Madame LaGrande is fashion's latest slave in pre-Revolutionary Paris.
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"An attractive, surprising, and useful volume. (Picture book/nonfiction 5-9)"
With outstanding care and restraint, Sayre (Grasslands, 1994, not reviewed, etc.) introduces this unusual bird and tells the story of symbiosis in a spare, poetic text that is also exciting for reading aloud.
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"A first chapter book to charm both newly independent readers and their elders. (Fiction. 5-10)"
The endearing winged cats who escaped the city to be cared for by two reliable country children (Catwings, 1988, etc.) make a third appearance in this tale of a self-important kitten from nearby who discovers that his true worth is not what he has supposed.
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Another offbeat tall tale from the authors of Charlie Malarkey and the Belly-Button Machine (1990); William Kennedy is also the Pulitzer-Prize-winning author of Ironweed and other adult fiction.
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"Crediting editors and designers is a nice touch. (Poetry. 7+)"
A veteran author and illustrator bring their common interest in nature to a beautiful anthology of high-quality poetry: 91 poems from such as Roethke, Sandburg, Ciardi, Merriam, Millay, and Zolotow and from Leila and Tanya Dreskin (ages 5 and 7), plus several haiku and Native American songs.
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An effervescent, kid-appealing parody of a popular folk song (``Yonder Tree''): An impish-looking boy details the delights of his bizarre pets (``I love my warthog and my warthog loves me./He blows his round nose on my sleeve./He borrows my toothpaste, my brush, and my floss./My mom has asked him to leave.'')
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"The huge, bumptious dog, sturdy kid, and jowly old lady (who has a twinkle in her eye from the start) make a likable trio. (Picture book. 4-8)"
Skateboarding down the block for his weekly visit with his elderly aunt, the peppy, freckled kid, sweatband holding his squared-off red hair bolt upright, dolefully anticipates the usual tedium while Aunt Ida stops to chat with friends during their walk with her Great Dane. ``If Doc and me could have our own way/We'd get up and GO, MAN, GO!'' While he endures the sedate pace, the boy imagines what he and the dog could do if they escaped: ``rope cattle on the prairie,'' perform in a circus...
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"A sure-fire addition to the Halloween shelf. (Picture book. 3-7)"
In a nicely cadenced variant on the cumulative tale about a turnip, a witch is vainly trying to tug a pumpkin off its vine in order to bake a pie.
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"Schindler deftly extends the humor with his overdressed, irrepressible Mrs. Medley and long-suffering Max. (Picture book. 4-8)"
Levine's first book is a tall tale with a role reversal guaranteed to amuse: Max's grandma, Mrs. Medley, takes half the day to get to the beach—she keeps going home for more stuff.
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"Schindler's exquisitely detailed drawings, warmed with the softest of added color, make a perfect accompaniment to what should serve as a satisfying young reader or as a read-aloud."
A charming, if insubstantial, little story about the setting out into the world of four alley kittens who were born with wings—perhaps "their father was a fly-by-night" Once they begin to fly, their mother (Mrs. Jane Tabby)—because she realizes that the neighborhood is "terrible. . .and getting worse," and because she is making her own plans with Mr. Tom Jones, who has proposed—sends them out to seek their fortune.
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