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
Closing with an intimate snuggle after Papa instantly dozes off, this tender iteration of a familiar nighttime ritual will...
Despite repeated vows to stop interrupting, a little red chicken can’t resist jumping in to cut her Papa’s bedtime tales short with plot giveaways—“DON’T GO IN! SHE’S A WITCH!”—and truncated, happy endings.
Endowing his poultry with flamboyantly oversized combs and wattles, Stein switches between stylish but cozy bedroom scenes and illustrations from each attempted story (into which little red chicken forcibly inserts herself) done in a scribbly, line-and-color style reminiscent of Paul Galdone’s picture-book fairy tales. Having run out of stories, exasperated Papa suggests to little red chicken that she make one up for him, which she does in laborious block print on lined paper, complete with crayoned stick-figure illustrations.
Closing with an intimate snuggle after Papa instantly dozes off, this tender iteration of a familiar nighttime ritual will be equally welcomed by fond parents and those children for whom listening to stories is anything but a passive activity. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-7636-4168-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
First-grader Melinda, who lives with her mother, reluctantly says goodbye to a grandmotherly neighbor, Mrs. Wilcox, who's moving to a nursing home. Mrs. Wilcox promises Melinda a surprise in the mailbox every Monday, and her cheerful cards and letters become the eagerly anticipated focus of Melinda's week. Although there is no hint that Mrs. Wilcox is seriously ill, their correspondence is to be short-lived; before Melinda can learn her letters to write back, Mrs. Wilcox dies in her sleep. Grief hurts more than a ``sprained wrist,'' but eventually Melinda hits on a palliativewriting to Mrs. Wilcox's nursing home friend, Mrs. Mingo. Fox's first book is full of good intentions, but the story is glib, and moves awkwardly through some flashbacks and preamble before it is really launched. The pictures have an oversweetened, artificial quality, but Melinda's natural exuberance comes through on every spread. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: July 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-8028-5111-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Eerdmans
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1995
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