Arnold, known for her science nonfiction, tucks plenty of natural history into this quintet of easy reading tales. Singing a work song—“We wiggle and waggle, squiggle and squirm. / Digging in dirt is the life of a worm”—two earthworms aerate a vegetable garden, work together to shift a rock out of the way, picnic beneath a bucket on dirt rolls and bug juice, play in a rain puddle and, finally, at summer’s end, tunnel down for a long rest. Placing her worms in a well-tilled setting among healthy-looking veggies, Peterson endows them with smiles and goggle eyes, plus subtle differences in body color and, for Waggle, a pair of eyeglasses. An altogether agreeable visit to the garden, unsurprisingly capped by a page of additional worm facts. (Easy reader. 6-7)
Pub Date: July 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-1-58089-306-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2007
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Poor Miss Rosemary. Inspired by the example of Gertrude, The Cow Who Wouldn’t Come Down (1993), George the pig is trying to fly, play music, and drive. The results are uniformly disastrous: “It’s a known fact pigs don’t drive,” scolds Miss Rosemary after the inevitable crash. The animals are as expressive as the people in Johnson’s tidy, clean-lined country scenes; George’s cheery confidence comes through as clearly as the local sheriff’s irritation does. At last Miss Rosemary and Gertrude put their heads together, drawing up a successful scheme to get George to behave like a perfect pig—just as Magnolia the goose decides to burst into oinks. (Picture book. 4-7)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-531-30136-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orchard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1999
Combining saccharine visuals with a monotonous ditty, this book follows a child from morning wake-up to evening snuggle-down with no fewer than 13 stanzas modeled on “The Farmer in the Dell” and static illustrations in which the young, chubby-cheeked narrator, whose wide eyes are generally looking off to the side, is awkwardly posed’sometimes floating slightly—against generic indoor and outdoor scenes. His mother looks about ten, his father perhaps five years older. The author and illustrator have done much better work in the past; pass this up in favor of Nancy White Carlstrom’s evergreen Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? (1986). (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-531-30138-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orchard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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