Whether they prefer outlaws or identify with the good guys, readers will eagerly be turning pages.
The Pinchers—grandma Stola, father Rob, mother Nic, and daughter Ellen—are liars and thieves…except for son Theo.
Theo’s friends with Paul Eessman, the hapless cop next door, and his undeclared ambition is to be a police officer. Theo joins forces with Paul to save Sherlock, the witless family dog, when an authoritarian new officer threatens to impound him, and the family has no receipt to prove ownership; other dogs begin to meet a similar fate. Nic and Ellen resort to harsh tactics: tossing hot coffee in the cop’s face. Rob decides to hide Sherlock with Stola in jail, where she’s been for years. Shockingly, Stola produces a valid receipt (uncharacteristically, for a Pincher, she didn’t steal Sherlock). A hint about the new cop’s identity is soon confirmed, and the focus shifts to Theo’s rescue plan. The book comes to a satisfying close, but loose ends remain to pull readers into the next absorbing, convention-flouting adventure. Vignette illustrations offer zany realism; characters’ clothing cues identify roles. Interludes from Sherlock’s perspective ramp up the humor. Although the language, translated from Swedish, lacks Dav Pilkey’s verve, Dog Man fans will devour this series. Children need not be familiar with the first installment, though they’ll want to go back to it. Characters are light-skinned.
Whether they prefer outlaws or identify with the good guys, readers will eagerly be turning pages. (Chapter book. 6-10)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2024
ISBN: 9781776575879
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Gecko Press
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A brisk if bland offering for series fans, but cleverer metafictive romps abound.
The titular cookie runs off the page at a bookstore storytime, pursued by young listeners and literary characters.
Following on 13 previous How To Catch… escapades, Wallace supplies sometimes-tortured doggerel and Elkerton, a set of helter-skelter cartoon scenes. Here the insouciant narrator scampers through aisles, avoiding a series of elaborate snares set by the racially diverse young storytime audience with help from some classic figures: “Alice and her mad-hat friends, / as a gift for my unbirthday, / helped guide me through the walls of shelves— / now I’m bound to find my way.” The literary helpers don’t look like their conventional or Disney counterparts in the illustrations, but all are clearly identified by at least a broad hint or visual cue, like the unnamed “wizard” who swoops in on a broom to knock over a tower labeled “Frogwarts.” Along with playing a bit fast and loose with details (“Perhaps the boy with the magic beans / saved me with his cow…”) the author discards his original’s lip-smacking climax to have the errant snack circling back at last to his book for a comfier sort of happily-ever-after.
A brisk if bland offering for series fans, but cleverer metafictive romps abound. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7282-0935-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Charming.
An assortment of unusual characters form friendships and help each other become their best selves.
Mr. and Mrs. Tupper, who live at Number 3 Ramshorn Drive, are antiquarians. Their daughter, Jillian, loves and cares for a plant named Ivy, who has “three speckles on each leaf and three letters in her name.” Toasty, the grumpy goldfish, lives in an octagonal tank and wishes he were Jillian’s favorite; when Arthur the spider arrives inside an antique desk, he brings wisdom and insight. Ollie the violet plant, Louise the bee, and Sunny the canary each arrive with their own quirks and problems to solve. Each character has a distinct personality and perspective; sometimes they clash, but more often they learn to empathize, see each other’s points of view, and work to help one another. They also help the Tupper family with bills and a burglar. The Fan brothers’ soft-edged, old-fashioned, black-and-white illustrations depict Toasty and Arthur with tiny hats; Ivy and Ollie have facial expressions on their plant pots. The Tuppers have paper-white skin and dark hair. The story comes together like a recipe: Simple ingredients combine, transform, and rise into something wonderful. In its matter-of-fact wisdom, rich vocabulary (often defined within the text), hint of magic, and empathetic nonhuman characters who solve problems in creative ways, this delightful work is reminiscent of Ferris by Kate DiCamillo, Our Friend Hedgehog by Lauren Castillo, and Ivy Lost and Found by Cynthia Lord and Stephanie Graegin.
Charming. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: May 27, 2025
ISBN: 9781665942485
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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