The illustrator of Campbell Geeslin’s Elena’s Serenade (2003) again folds humorous and theatrical elements into mystical, surrealist art for an original tale imbued with folkloric overtones. Wearing a tied-on red nose and a long stocking cap, the chubby Night Eater tumbles behind the Moon each night, happily gobbling the starry darkness, chunk by chunk, to make way for the Sun. This tidy arrangement screeches to a halt, however, when Moon makes a comment about Night Eater’s weight, prompting him to go on a crash diet that leaves the entire world permanently dark. A knowing expression on his broad face, the Moon floats over misty scenes populated by the likes of a richly sea-green mermaid, a top-hatted penguin, and children whose expressions of anxiety change to smiles once Night Eater, re-discovering how tasty the night is, resumes his usual rounds. An engaging tale, made even more memorable by Juan’s distinctive style and vision. (Picture book. 7-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-439-48891-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Levine/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2004
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A humorous story about a boy realizing for the first time what it's like to be in the other guy's shoes: Ben tries hard to be nice when his nerdy cousin Markie visits for a weekend, but when Markie makes him miss out on the leaf-raking job that would finally have given him enough money to buy a skateboard, Ben takes out his frustration and disappointment on the younger boy. Unexpectedly, Markie lashes back, forcing Ben to think hard about his own behavior. That—and Markie's surprising chutzpah at an amusement park—cause Ben to notice unsuspected qualities in his weird cousin, and leads to the beginnings of a friendship between them. Though the reading here is easy, Kleitsch neatly renders the foibles of both kids and adults. Some of the cartoon-like b&w drawings show Ben's fantasy adventures, Ö la Calvin and Hobbes. (Fiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: June 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-525-44891-8
Page Count: 74
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1992
In the crime spree that is this easy chapter book's focus, the eponymous villain is part rogue, part gentleman-bandit, part duty- shirking Tom Sawyer. Rinaldo doesn't miss a trick: nestling into hotel life long enough to steal a valuable necklace from a feckless hen before ducking the bill; getting the owner of a glitzy car to participate in its theft; tricking an army of animals into planting a crop of corn for him. But for dissecting the criminal mind, none is better than Bruno, the Duck Detective; and when the two old enemies finally face, readers will be in a fine fettle trying to determine just who won. In the never-ending struggle between good and evil, perhaps it doesn't matter. Those just mastering reading will light into this funny adventure, which pays homage to the clichÇs of the suspense genre as easily as it parodies them. Fortunately for moralists, Gider's vivid watercolors take the sting out of Rinaldo's mischief; in these scenes, he seems a benign smirker who, though doing no one any good, is not really doing them any harm, either. (Fiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1992
ISBN: 1-55858-181-2
Page Count: 62
Publisher: NorthSouth
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1992
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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