Only a stooge couldn’t love Ivy and Bean
The intrigue swirls thick ’round Pancake Court.
Inspired by a black-and-white movie her mother watches with her even though it’s not on the list of 10 movies without mean people, smoking, bad words and tiny clothes, Bean goes into the PI business. Donning an old fedora, in no time she attracts the attention of the other neighborhood children, including best friend Ivy. Bean solves a couple of mysteries—what’s under the cement lids in all the lawns, why the letter carrier takes a two-hour nap every day—but the kids are not particularly impressed. Then a real mystery arises: A bright yellow rope appears, tied around Dino’s chimney and trailing onto his lawn. Incredibly, each day it lengthens, sprawling around the cul-de-sac and evidently evading the notice of every adult there. Bean’s reputation is at stake. Her efforts to nab Mr. Whoever-ties-the-rope involve lots of shared speculation and a midnight stakeout with loyal Ivy…but no perp. As always, Barrows’ keen understanding of children yields scenarios that are right on the money: Bean cheerfully watches her mother’s favorite noir classic and gleans only the details her mother would rather she not have noticed; she sets and resets a kitchen timer four times in order to wake up at midnight. And her nonsolution results in a conclusion that will madden adults but that is wisely, perfectly childlike.
Only a stooge couldn’t love Ivy and Bean . (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4521-0699-1
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: April 23, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2013
BOOK TO SCREEN
A playful, comic romp of a book for new readers.
All the playground’s a stage for these two pals.
A metafictive introduction to this title finds chipmunk Lulu and red squirrel Bruno breaking the fourth wall to introduce themselves to readers by revealing their respective attributes. Lulu’s imaginative strengths end up being central to both of the ensuing stories—the first about coveting cake and the second about making the best of a timeout punishment. Although he is decidedly less whimsical than his friend, Bruno patiently indulges Lulu’s flights of fancy in both chapters, and Lulu also comes across as the “good friend” she declares herself to be in the introduction as she dreams up play scenarios. The text is delivered almost entirely in color-coded speech-balloon dialogue between the friends (yellow for Lulu to match her hair bow and blue for Bruno to match his glasses). This supports the cartoonish quality of the humorous, digitally rendered art, but some pages end up looking rather cluttered with a surfeit of balloons. The final two pages incorporate the text in the illustrations, presenting the words “THE END” in pebbles in the sandbox, but Bruno intercedes to scratch the word “NOT” above them, suggesting that more squirrely adventures await the friends in future stories.
A playful, comic romp of a book for new readers. (Early reader. 7-9)Pub Date: April 15, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3553-8
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 18, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2014
The narrator’s buoyancy and quick recovery save this from turning into a dreary life lesson.
In an import that is high on zest, a child and her blithe conviction that she has superpowers both take an abrupt tumble.
Sporting a black mask throughout in the simple crayon drawings, the self-confident young narrator describes how she learned to fly by launching herself from the bed. She can also make things (well, cupcakes at least) disappear and breathe under water—in a tub scene featuring a rib-tickling bit of mooning—as well as like special “powers.” But despite previous spills aplenty, she declares with a childlike sense of permanence that her abilities are “Gone! Finished!” after some swooping on the end of a rope in the yard one day ends with a SPLAT! They don’t vanish for long though, as when Mom rushes out with a “magic kiss” that makes most of the hurt go away, the child concludes that she “has superpowers too!” The illustrations will clue young readers in immediately that any powers here (aside, of course, from Mom’s) are strictly in her head, creating a tension between text and subtext that, oddly, both celebrates and undercuts this kind of imaginary play. Executed on spacious expanses of white or rich tan, they depict the ebullient child engaged in all sorts of delicious mayhem.
The narrator’s buoyancy and quick recovery save this from turning into a dreary life lesson. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: April 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-59270-144-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Enchanted Lion Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 25, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2014
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