Dory’s fans will be entertained by this further adventure; an early illustrated spread will quickly draw new readers into...
First-grader Dory's imagination exceeds her reading ability, but after a black sheep follows her out of the pages of a book, she decides to work at this new skill.
In a third title in this engaging chapter-book series, Dory (whom her family calls Rascal) describes her struggles with reading. Secretly she envies her new friend, Rosabelle, who reads “big thick chapter books.” She and her reading partner and “old friend,” George, have to read a “babyish farm book.” No wonder they hate reading. But ever inventive Dory concocts a far more interesting story in which a black sheep she names Goblin follows her out of the book, her enemy, Mrs. Gobble Gracker, kidnaps it, and her fairy godmother, Mr. Nuggy, turns Mrs. Gobble Gracker into a whiny kid. Even Rosabelle is entranced. Hanlon’s childlike drawings appear in and around the story and help carry it along to a satisfying conclusion. In seven fast-moving chapters, Dory progresses from reluctant reader to determined learner, with plenty of adventure along the way: visiting Rosabelle in her castle, donning a superhero costume, rescuing Rosabelle’s little brother, and traveling beyond the universe to return the lost sheep to his family.
Dory’s fans will be entertained by this further adventure; an early illustrated spread will quickly draw new readers into Dory’s fantasmagorical worlds. (Fiction. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-99426-9
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: June 27, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Score one for cleanliness. Like (almost) all Munsch, funny as it stands but even better read aloud, with lots of exaggerated...
The master of the manic patterned tale offers a newly buffed version of his first published book, with appropriately gloppy new illustrations.
Like the previous four iterations (orig. 1979; revised 2004, 2006, 2009), the plot remains intact through minor changes in wording: Each time young Jule Ann ventures outside in clean clothes, a nefarious mud puddle leaps out of a tree or off the roof to get her “completely all over muddy” and necessitate a vigorous parental scrubbing. Petricic gives the amorphous mud monster a particularly tarry look and texture in his scribbly, high-energy cartoon scenes. It's a formidable opponent, but the two bars of smelly soap that the resourceful child at last chucks at her attacker splatter it over the page and send it sputtering into permanent retreat.
Score one for cleanliness. Like (almost) all Munsch, funny as it stands but even better read aloud, with lots of exaggerated sound effects. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-55451-427-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Annick Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 7, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
IN THE NEWS
Yarlett takes poor advantage of the format, as readers see only half of the correspondence, but the premise and punny names...
A lad finds a big red dragon in his basement and wisely seeks expert advice about its care and feeding in this epistolary episode.
Young Alexander’s missives (there are no cellphones, nor parents, in sight) are mostly paraphrased rather than shown, but each response comes as a small note folded into a pocket that’s been printed and shaped like an envelope: “Douse it in water right away!” writes panic-stricken fire chief H.Y. Drant; find it a large house or castle, advises B. East of World Animal Welfare; “fatten it up,” suggests Angus Teak the butcher (“Look forward to [eating, scratched out] meeting your dragon”) with sinister relish. Boy and dragon have wonderful times together, but the ultimate realization that dragons really don’t make good pets leads the narrator to follow the written advice of best friend Hillary (“the wisest person I knew”) and set it free. The later arrival of a slightly burned picture postcard in the “post” reassures him that the dragon won’t be forgetting to keep in touch. The human figures in Yarlett’s cartoon illustrations are either white or have their heads cut off at the page top. With the exception of the pasted-on postcard from the dragon at the end, all of the correspondence is removable and thereby losable.
Yarlett takes poor advantage of the format, as readers see only half of the correspondence, but the premise and punny names add some appeal. (Novelty. 6-8)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-61067-818-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kane Miller
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2018
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