Maybe not a perfect party, but a perfectly entertaining read; no special invitation needed.
A young boy with perfectionist tendencies throws a birthday party.
Patrick loves cooking; he’s meticulous in his slicing and dicing, and the meals he whips up for his parents and his brother, Russ, meet with lip-smacking approval. He’s just as careful with his preparations for his upcoming birthday party. Patrick gets precisely the decorations and party menu he wants, and Russ types up the invitations as Patrick dictates: Guests are requested to dress as their favorite food. But Patrick’s bewildered when nobody shows up to the party in food garb. Uh-oh. Instead of “favorite food,” Russ typed “favorite foot.” No wonder guests came as socks, skates, and “sparkly toenails.” For Patrick, the best part of the party is when it finally ends. Afterward, Dad compliments the tea Patrick blended; over the next year, Patrick lovingly works on the perfect pot of tea. Next year’s party theme? A tea party! Guests are invited “to wear a fancy hat.” Will they? Hint: Russ makes another typo. Children will laugh over the hilarious ending; indeed, they’ll giggle their way through this uproarious book—and perhaps realize that learning to be a bit flexible can be a lot of fun. The colorful illustrations are a dynamic hoot, and the costumes will spark great ideas. Plump, curly-haired Patrick and his family are brown-skinned; note his spiffy green-and-yellow-striped eyeglasses. Guests are racially diverse; one uses a wheelchair.
Maybe not a perfect party, but a perfectly entertaining read; no special invitation needed. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 11, 2024
ISBN: 9781499814460
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little Bee Books
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2024
Only for dedicated fans of the series.
When a kid gets the part of the ninja master in the school play, it finally seems to be the right time to tackle the closet monster.
“I spot my monster right away. / He’s practicing his ROAR. / He almost scares me half to death, / but I won’t be scared anymore!” The monster is a large, fluffy poison-green beast with blue hands and feet and face and a fluffy blue-and-green–striped tail. The kid employs a “bag of tricks” to try to catch the monster: in it are a giant wind-up shark, two cans of silly string, and an elaborate cage-and-robot trap. This last works, but with an unexpected result: the monster looks sad. Turns out he was only scaring the boy to wake him up so they could be friends. The monster greets the boy in the usual monster way: he “rips a massive FART!!” that smells like strawberries and lime, and then they go to the monster’s house to meet his parents and play. The final two spreads show the duo getting ready for bed, which is a rather anticlimactic end to what has otherwise been a rambunctious tale. Elkerton’s bright illustrations have a TV-cartoon aesthetic, and his playful beast is never scary. The narrator is depicted with black eyes and hair and pale skin. Wallace’s limping verses are uninspired at best, and the scansion and meter are frequently off.
Only for dedicated fans of the series. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-4894-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted...
Reinvention is the name of the game for two blobs of clay.
A blue-eyed gray blob and a brown-eyed brown blob sit side by side, unsure as to what’s going to happen next. The gray anticipates an adventure, while the brown appears apprehensive. A pair of hands descends, and soon, amid a flurry of squishing and prodding and poking and sculpting, a handsome gray wolf and a stately brown owl emerge. The hands disappear, leaving the friends to their own devices. The owl is pleased, but the wolf convinces it that the best is yet to come. An ear pulled here and an extra eye placed there, and before you can shake a carving stick, a spurt of frenetic self-exploration—expressed as a tangled black scribble—reveals a succession of smug hybrid beasts. After all, the opportunity to become a “pig-e-phant” doesn’t come around every day. But the sound of approaching footsteps panics the pair of Picassos. How are they going to “fix [them]selves” on time? Soon a hippopotamus and peacock are staring bug-eyed at a returning pair of astonished hands. The creative naiveté of the “clay mates” is perfectly captured by Petty’s feisty, spot-on dialogue: “This was your idea…and it was a BAD one.” Eldridge’s endearing sculpted images are photographed against the stark white background of an artist’s work table to great effect.
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted fun of their own . (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 20, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-316-30311-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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