This tale’s jokes and triumphant ending will delight young readers.
A lactose-intolerant tooth fairy saves the day in this gleefully gross picture-book debut.
Following one simple rule on the first day of tooth-fairy school shouldn’t be hard; all Irma has to do is avoid dairy, which will upset her stomach. But when she gets milk and crackers for a snack on the school bus, she doesn’t want to stand out. She drinks the milk but pays the price—squirming when she’s supposed to be paying attention in class, then letting “out a toot / that was long, loud, and smelly.” The other kids laugh, and the teacher scolds Irma, reckoning that a flatulent fairy won’t be able to collect teeth unnoticed. At every turn, Irma fails—until a too-high window has the tooth fairies stymied and Irma’s toots save the day. This book’s concept isn’t unique, but Donnelly’s sometimes-clever rhymes, which offer toot-related vocabulary (farted, flatulate), scan well, and designer/letterer Dukeshire lays out stanzas for easy rhyming despite omitted punctuation. Van Gool’s delightful illustrations have the feel of an animated cartoon; characters almost leap off the page. The tooth-fairy children share similar body types, but their skin tones are a range of colors. Irma’s flatulence is a fantastically gross green cloud sure to delight potty-humor fans.
This tale’s jokes and triumphant ending will delight young readers.Pub Date: Nov. 23, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-578-77309-4
Page Count: 36
Publisher: BookBaby
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A pleasant book featuring playful storytelling and gentle lessons in character-building.
In this debut children’s novel, three mouse sisters find fun and adventure with their fellow creatures in a small Georgia town.
This story features numerous animals and two benign humans in a little town called Evergreen. The sympathetic humans are Josiah Hillendale, a white man who owns a nearby sawmill and lumber company; and his right-hand man who runs the sawmill, Joe Phillips, who’s black. Most of the action, however, centers on the Hopkinses, a mouse family residing in a cozy den on the outskirts of the sawmill. There, three sisters grow up: responsible Pouxie, timid Mouxie, and bouncy Chrissie, the youngest, who “can sniff out happiness the way most creatures can sniff out supper.” The siblings have a festive game day with their parents, help deter greedy ants from ruining Mama’s shopping trip, visit their squirrel friends’ treehouse, and “go to school”—that is, feast on leftovers from human kids’ lunches. Lessons of kindness, teamwork, generosity, and confidence-building are an organic part of the story; anxious Mouxie, for instance, learns that planning ahead can alleviate worry; the sisters and the protective Crow brothers befriend a neglected mule; and a fat sawmill cat learns something about hubris when he’s hurt while attempting to ambush Mama Hopkins. (Joe helps heal the cat’s injuries and battered pride.) The book’s quirky, conversational style offers read-aloud appeal for young children and tongue-in-cheek humor that older elementary school readers (and adults) will appreciate; Papa Hopkins, for example, indulges in a “toot” of hidden berry juice; voracious reader Joe likes J.R.R. Tolkien, Stephen King, and “lots of things in between,” including books like Saw Tooth Sharpening. Noreikas’ graphite-and-ink–style illustrations of animals, humans, and maps are a delight, rendered with skill and comic wit. The book concludes with plot points that the next volume of the planned trilogy will likely resolve.
A pleasant book featuring playful storytelling and gentle lessons in character-building.Pub Date: Dec. 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4808-4784-2
Page Count: 142
Publisher: ArchwayPublishing
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
For instructional, therapeutic reading, with a dog narrator as the spoonful of sugar.
A child who can’t safely return to in-person schooling learns focus from a well-trained Lakeland terrier.
Despite all his “zoomies” and “wiggles,” Brisket is an excellent Helper Hound. After he was adopted by Luke, a White American man then living in London, Brisket became a medal-winning pup in his obedience drills. Now he and Luke live in America and work in animal-assisted therapy. Wearing his Helper Hounds vest, Brisket demonstrates his focus and attention for Miryam, an immunocompromised child who can’t return to normal school yet. In the illustrations—which depict adults rather like tall children—Miryam and her father, Malik, have pale skin and straight, dark hair. Luke explains to them how the skills that make Brisket excel at obedience drills might also help Miryam with remote schooling. Frequent breaks for Miryam and Brisket to run and play (getting their “zooooooomies out”) keep this story from becoming a lesson in how a child should behave like an obedient pet. Illustrations of Luke, Miryam, and Malik wearing masks, together with discussion of both children with health concerns and the difficulties of remote schooling, provide value for readers whose early education has been so utterly strange. One major continuity problem and some indifferent prose aside, reading about Miryam’s problems could comfort readers who’ve experienced the strangeness of pandemic school and medical fears. Tips on focusing and further facts about Lakeland terriers follow the story. Series companion Louis Helps Ajani Fight Racism publishes simultaneously.
For instructional, therapeutic reading, with a dog narrator as the spoonful of sugar. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-64371-080-8
Page Count: 72
Publisher: Red Chair Press
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2021
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