by Anna Myers ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1999
Myers (Ethan Between Us, 1998, etc.) takes on WWII and the folks on the Oklahoma home front. Gail knows that everything has changed when the telegram arrives stating that her father is missing in action. Although everyone in their small town, including Gail’s grandmother and her blind and bitter Uncle Ned, believe that her father is dead, Gail and her mother refuse to give up hope. Christmas is coming, and Gail wants her twin younger siblings to hope, too. Alternating with Gail’s story at home is the story of a navigator and a gunner who survive the crash of their plane. The gunner drags the navigator to safety where they are protected by French members of the Resistance; the navigator dies, while the gunner makes his way at last to England. Meanwhile, Gail learns more about her family, and how Ned’s blindness and his wife’s leaving have twisted him; he even attacks Captain, Gail’s golden retriever. The story doesn’t have the natural flow of some of Myers’s other novels; the reconciliations are mechanical (and plentiful), while the plot twists are rather heavyhanded: Christmas revelations, rescues, kindnesses, and sorrows. Despite such tampering, what remains vivid is the girl, her dog, and life on the home front, when the war came over the radio. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-8027-8706-1
Page Count: 134
Publisher: Walker
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1999
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by Anna Myers ; illustrated by Charles Vess
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by Joan Sweeney ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1999
PLB 0-517-70967-8 Me And My Family Tree (32 pp.; $13.00; PLB $14.99; May; 0-517-70966-X; PLB 0-517-70967-8): For children who are naturally curious about the people who care for them (most make inquiries into family relationships at an early age), Sweeney explains, with the assistance of a young narrator, the concept of a family tree. Photographs become understandable once the young girl learns the relationships among family members; she wonders what her own family tree will look like when she marries and has children. A larger message comes at the end of this story: not only does she have a family tree, but so does everyone in the world. Cable’s drawings clearly define the process of creating a family tree; she provides a blank tree so children can start on their own geneaology.(Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: May 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-517-70966-X
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1999
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by Joan Sweeney ; illustrated by Emma Trithart
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by Joan Sweeney & illustrated by Leslie Wu
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by Joan Sweeney & illustrated by Kathleen Fain
illustrated by Rachel Fuller ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 2010
One of a four-book series designed to help the very young prepare for new siblings, this title presents a toddler-and-mother pair (the latter heavily pregnant) as they read about new babies, sort hand-me-downs, buy new toys, visit the obstetrician and the sonographer, speculate and wait. Throughout, the child asks questions and makes exclamations with complete enthusiasm: “How big is the baby? What does it eat? I felt it move! Is it a boy or girl?” Fuller’s jolly pictures present a biracial family that thoroughly enjoys every moment together. It’s a bit oversimplified, but no one can complain about the positive message it conveys, appropriately, to its baby and toddler audience. The other titles in the New Baby series are My New Baby (ISBN: 978-1-84643-276-7), Look at Me! (ISBN: 978-1-84643-278-1) and You and Me (ISBN: 978-1-84643-277-4). (Board book. 18 mos.-3)
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-84643-275-0
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Child's Play
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2010
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by Rachel Fuller ; illustrated by Rachel Fuller ; translated by Teresa Mlawer
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