One hundred short poems plus one hundred jazzy illustrations add up to a satisfying whole in this poetry collection aimed at elementary-school children celebrating the one-hundredth day of class. The subject matter of the bouncy, humorous poems includes an amazing variety of math concepts as well as a sprinkling of science, history, language arts, and even a recipe, all relating to 100 in some way. Many of the poems are math problems in disguise, but delivered with a light touch that incorporates curriculum concepts with deft skill. A few of the poems stumble a little in their meter or have slightly skewed rhyming pairs, but the overall effort will find a favored place in hundreds of classrooms. Salerno’s bright gouache paintings include 100 smiling children on the cover and all sorts of funny animals and situations. His accurate illustrations of 100 items can actually be counted by sharp-eyed kids: yes, there really are 100 spots on that lime-green, polka-dot gecko. Teachers will think of dozens of ways to use this collection, not only on the hundredth day of school, but on all the other days as well. (Poetry. 5-9)
Pub Date: July 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-689-84793-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2004
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This heavily earnest celebration of multi-ethnicity combines full-bleed paintings of smiling children, viewed through a golden haze dancing, playing, planting seedlings, and the like, with a hyperbolic, disconnected text—``Dark as leopard spots, light as sand,/Children buzz with laughter that kisses our land...''— printed in wavy lines. Literal-minded readers may have trouble with the author's premise, that ``Children come in all the colors of the earth and sky and sea'' (green? blue?), and most of the children here, though of diverse and mixed racial ancestry, wear shorts and T-shirts and seem to be about the same age. Hamanaka has chosen a worthy theme, but she develops it without the humor or imagination that animates her Screen of Frogs (1993). (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-688-11131-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1994
With an eye toward easy memorization, Katz gathers over 50 short poems from the likes of Emily Dickinson, Valerie Worth, Jack Prelutsky, and Lewis Carroll, to such anonymous gems as “The Burp”—“Pardon me for being rude. / It was not me, it was my food. / It got so lonely down below, / it just popped up to say hello.” Katz includes five of her own verses, and promotes an evident newcomer, Emily George, with four entries. Hafner surrounds every selection with fine-lined cartoons, mostly of animals and children engaged in play, reading, or other familiar activities. Amid the ranks of similar collections, this shiny-faced newcomer may not stand out—but neither will it drift to the bottom of the class. (Picture book/poetry. 7-9)
Pub Date: March 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-525-47172-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2004
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