In this third offering about Slippers the puppy, the appealing pooch slips into a backpack for an unauthorized visit to his young owner’s classroom. The little girl, Laura, doesn’t realize her puppy has joined her, and Slippers manages to explore the school and climb back into the bag for the ride home without Laura ever discovering her puppy’s presence. In a series of clever word plays, Slippers is noticed by one person and then just barely avoids detection by another. The storyline is simple (and sometimes a little stilted), but Bynum’s illustrations present an additional layer of warm humor, with an engaging cover illustration of Slippers with a pencil in his mouth, all ready for his big day at school. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: July 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-525-47189-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2005
Soft colors and small, rounded figures in Narahashi’s paintings add extra appeal to this alphabetic horsey ride. Leaping atop her rocking horse, Amos, a young daydreamer crosses a “bumpity bridge” with a “clippety clop,” gallops through fields, up and down a hill, and back to the “extra dry” barn as sunny skies give way to rain clouds. The partly rhymed text, with featured uppercase and lowercase letters in boldface, creates an evocative rhythm to underscore the playful pretend outing. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: March 4, 1999
ISBN: 0-374-30001-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1999
This exploration of the fear of the new and different—the strange, as in “stranger”—is so heavily tilted to the gathering worries of the young protagonists that the ultimate meeting with the object of their concern is supremely anticlimactic. Two kittens, Cosy and Posy, are informed by their mother that Giraffe is coming to dinner. Having never met Giraffe, the kittens are at first curious and then increasingly alarmed as they hear from their friends about Giraffe’s oddness, from his long neck and spots to his height. When Giraffe appears, he offers the kittens his neck as a slide and instantly all is right with the world. There is relief, but no sense that the kittens know how baseless their fears were, nor that their trepidations were simply products of their imaginations. Readers may come away with the feeling that the kittens were soothed this time, but that the next time their fears will be just as out of control. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-531-30059-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orchard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1999
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