Capucilli’s (Bathtime for Biscuit, not reviewed) frolicsome puppy romps through another adventure in this latest entry in the My First I Can Read Book series. Biscuit’s owner attempts to teach the energetic pup how to fetch a ball. Instead, Biscuit rolls over, retrieves a bone, and chases the cat before finally returning with the ball. Capucilli skillfully relates a lively tale using simple language. The humorous antics of the pup will hold beginning readers’ interest while brief, simple sentences and repetition of words allows them to master the tale on their own. Story and artwork are in perfect harmony. Schories’s bright illustrations capture the impetuous spirit of the frisky canine and offer visual clues to support the words. The combination of engaging text and vivacious pictures provides encouragement for reluctant readers. This continuation of the lovable puppy’s capers is a real treat and will have audiences clamoring for more. (Easy reader. 4-6)
Pub Date: April 30, 2000
ISBN: 0-06-028067-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An artful board-book parable. A small gray mouse, tired of being small, wants to be as enormous, massive, and monstrous as an elephant. He gets a reality check when the cat appears—and being small enough to squeeze through the mouse hole seems a very happy fate indeed. Bourgeau's illustrations are simultaneously simple and sophisticated, immediately accessible and accompanied by a scratchy, eccentric typeface, deployed to good effect, in various sizes and positions on the page. A charming identity crisis, gratifyingly played out; another temporary malcontent can be found in I'm Sick of It: A Fishy Melodrama (0-8431-7925-2). (Board book. 4-6)
Pub Date: May 19, 1997
ISBN: 0-8431-7924-4
Page Count: 14
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1997
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A mother’s exasperated shout of “This place looks like a three-ring circus!” borders on the literal in this ambiguous concoction in which a young girl’s daytime nap leads to dreams of the circus. When her mother goes upstairs to take a break, a young girl dreams of acrobats and clowns, bareback riders, and a lady on a flying trapeze who rescues the child. A few imprecise clues tweak readers into questioning what’s real and what’s imagined: The mother carries a mysterious black hat upstairs with her; a lot of overheard thumping and bumping ensues. The story relies heavily on the suggestion of the title, for within the pages there’s no mention of the mother’s secret life. That the girl’s cat has the smell of popcorn on his breath at the end of the fantasy is the only indication that the circus events were not just a dream. Emberley arrays the fantasy realm with bright feathers, glitter, beads, tinsel, and neon-colored mesh netting; children won’t miss the details of a mother’s sparkling nail polish, a broken string of pearls, or the sequined tip of a clown’s shoe. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: April 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-316-23496-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1998
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