A fiber artist successfully switches to paint and colored pencil for this breezy tale of a child with an extreme case of collectivitis. Like her friends, Prudy collects stamps, butterflies, and tinfoil—but that’s just the tip of the iceberg, as her room bulges with everything from “six hundred and fourteen stuffed animals in different unnatural colors” to assemblages of “interesting fungi” and tufts of dog hair. Despite strong hints from everyone, she’s in deep denial—“ ‘There is no problem!’ ”—until her room finally explodes from the pressure, scattering debris not only across the house but, as detailed in a spread of wordless panels, across the world, and even beyond. While friends and family sort through the mounds of stuff—all drawn with loving attention to detail in bright, comically busy scenes—Prudy searches for, and finds, a solution satisfactory to all: “The Prudy Museum of Indescribable Wonderment” (tickets 25¢) soon opens to waves of bemused visitors. Even children who don’t share Prudy’s addiction in some measure (if there are any) will pore over her deliciously quirky collections in this light-hearted debut. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-8109-0569-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2002
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This attempt to explain the Pledge’s meaning to younger children is at least as simplistic as it is enlightening. Using a combination of torn paper and simple, fluidly brushed strokes, Raschka (Be Boy Buzz, p. 1310, etc.) supplies a brightly colored backdrop of stylized children and adults, against which the Pledge’s words, generally one by one, are printed in large type and glossed in smaller: “God. Many people believe that a democracy is how God thinks—every single person is important.” Martin and Sampson (Tricks or Treat?, below, etc.) fill in bits of the historical background, mentioning Frances Bellamy, the Pledge’s original composer, but not that his version was very different from the present one, and closing with a dizzying recapitulation: “The flag stands for our history, our inventions, our music, sports, literature, faith . . . ” Children curious about the meaning of what so many of them are compelled to promise every morning in school will get less lyrical, but more factual, commentary from June Swanson’s I Pledge Allegiance (1990). (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-7636-1648-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2002
An all-day sugar rush, putting the “fun” back into, er, education.
A young visionary describes his ideal school: “Perfectly planned and impeccably clean. / On a scale, 1 to 10, it’s more like 15!”
In keeping with the self-indulgently fanciful lines of If I Built a Car (2005) and If I Built a House (2012), young Jack outlines in Seussian rhyme a shiny, bright, futuristic facility in which students are swept to open-roofed classes in clear tubes, there are no tests but lots of field trips, and art, music, and science are afterthoughts next to the huge and awesome gym, playground, and lunchroom. A robot and lots of cute puppies (including one in a wheeled cart) greet students at the door, robotically made-to-order lunches range from “PB & jelly to squid, lightly seared,” and the library’s books are all animated popups rather than the “everyday regular” sorts. There are no guards to be seen in the spacious hallways—hardly any adults at all, come to that—and the sparse coed student body features light- and dark-skinned figures in roughly equal numbers, a few with Asian features, and one in a wheelchair. Aside from the lack of restrooms, it seems an idyllic environment—at least for dog-loving children who prefer sports and play over quieter pursuits.
An all-day sugar rush, putting the “fun” back into, er, education. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-525-55291-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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