Booger Boy, as the neighbors not-so-affectionately call him, is unable to stop his horrible habit. Richard even creates elaborate snot-nosed dioramas with his strands of green glop. His nasty nose-picking fascination turns disastrous, though, when his finger permanently sticks up his nose and the rest of his body follows suit. The child-turned–giant-blob-of-mucus rolls through the town, collecting objects, pets and even a baby in his uncontrolled slime and attracting an angry mob. A nearby shop's spicy aroma produces a welcome sneeze, spewing out the drenched youngster and resulting in a yucky comeuppance for the harpoon-carrying locals. Though uninspired, the rhyming text clearly bounces along. “He looked like a booger, / a big gloopy blob, / an ooey, gluey goobery glob.” Bright acrylic-and–colored-pencil spreads frame stocky cartoon sketches; round, googly eyes dominate each face. Saturated in disgusting descriptions, this vile offering pointedly targets boys of a certain age, and the gross-out humor will surely elicit plenty of eews along the way. Mission accomplished. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-55469-088-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: Dec. 27, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Playing with scale and prompting readers to think big ensures a quick and entertaining tour to awesome sights.
Minor focuses his attention on the symbolic gourd of fall, juxtaposing national landmarks or record-setting structures with visions of impossibly enormous pumpkins or jack-o’-lanterns.
The title poses a tantalizing question that leads gracefully from the real to the surreal. What follows in each full-bleed spread is a famous site—man-made or natural—painted with watercolor and gouache that majestically captures the impressiveness of the place. He includes in these illustrations an image of a wildly oversized pumpkin. It’s a quirky notion, and it kind of works. Few children would seek out a book on important places to see across the United States. A better bet is a title like this one, which imparts that information while also making them laugh at the sheer humor in the pictures. One image shows the highest roller coaster feeding into the open mouth of a fierce-looking jack-o’-lantern. Another pumpkin innocently stops traffic when it is placed in the middle of the Brooklyn Bridge. Yet another smiles up close as a rocket takes off from Cape Canaveral. From Connecticut to California, 14 places are featured. More information about them is provided at the end of the book.
Playing with scale and prompting readers to think big ensures a quick and entertaining tour to awesome sights. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-399-24684-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2013
There are many parallel legends – the seal women, for example, with their strange sad longings – but none is more direct than this American Indian story of a girl who is carried away in a horses’ stampede…to ride thenceforth by the side of a beautiful stallion who leads the wild horses. The girl had always loved horses, and seemed to understand them “in a special way”; a year after her disappearance her people find her riding beside the stallion, calf in tow, and take her home despite his strong resistance. But she is unhappy and returns to the stallion; after that, a beautiful mare is seen riding always beside him. Goble tells the story soberly, allowing it to settle, to find its own level. The illustrations are in the familiar striking Goble style, but softened out here and there with masses of flowers and foliage – suitable perhaps for the switch in subject matter from war to love, but we miss the spanking clean design of Custer’s Last Battle and The Fetterman Fight. 6-7
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1978
ISBN: 0689845049
Page Count: -
Publisher: Bradbury
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1978
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