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TABLE MANNERS

Name: TABLE MANNERS
Author: Chris Raschka
ISBN: 0-7636-1453-X

by Chris Raschka & illustrated by Chris Raschka & Radunsky Vladimir ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 2001

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Definitely not your mother’s etiquette book. Two friends, rendered almost always simply as heads, explore the niceties of table manners: Chester, a swoop of blue and green with red smiling mouth and four or five upswept hairs, and Dudunya, a round, bald fellow with big ears and genial smile. Each is rendered in the inimitable style of his creator/alter-ego, Raschka (Little Tree, p. 1210, etc.) and Radunsky (My Dolly, p. 497, etc.), respectively. The friends bop across bright collage backgrounds, presenting the basic rules of polite eating. “But Chester, why a fork and a knife?” asks the clueless Dudunya. Chester patiently explains, “Because it makes you look grown-up, and because a knife makes big things small enough to fit in your mouth.” Accompanying this sage advice is a picture of Dudunya armed with knife and fork and about to carve into a baked potato sectioned like a butcher’s chart. Unfortunately, the design is overdone, with multimedia illustrations and typefaces of varying degrees of urgency vying for the reader’s attention, with frequently dizzying results. Also, this collaboration between two of children’s books’ more exciting artists smacks not a little of self-indulgence, with much of the wit seemingly aimed over the heads of its putative audience: how many American children, for instance, will relate to the concept of elevenses? Still, there is definite kid appeal in the broad humor that allows Chester to illustrate the consequences of neglecting to chew and to deliver the tautological instruction that “napkins are definitely not . . . everything that is not a napkin.” Maybe, just maybe, after reading this, kids will go to a restaurant and remember to sit in their seats “with a nice smile.” (Picture book. 5-8)

Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2001

ISBN: 0-7636-1453-X

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Candlewick

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2001

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
I HEAR THE SNOW, I SMELL THE SEA
by Janice Milusich ; illustrated by Chris Raschka

- BOOK REVIEW
PEACHALOO IN BLOOM
by Chris Raschka ; illustrated by Chris Raschka

- BOOK REVIEW
YOU AND ME, ANEMONE
by Rachel Vail ; illustrated by Chris Raschka

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EVERYBODY SERVES SOUP

by Norah Dooley & illustrated by Peter j. Thornton ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 7, 2000

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Dooley (Everybody Bakes Bread, 1996, etc.) dishes up another premise for Carrie to eat her way around her multicultural neighborhood. Thornton again offers framed, lifeless illustrations that stick to a predictable text. Today is a snow day at school and Christmas approaches. Carrie is tapped out after buying gifts for everybody except Mom, who always wants “anything that comes from your heart.” She hopes to earn money by shoveling snow. But when she helps Tito shovel his walk and steps, he tells her the landlord won’t pay, although they can warm up with a bowl of his sister Fendra’s Puerto Rican pea soup. Carrie gets the recipe. John has a cold and can’t shovel, but his mom offers a cup of Greek lemon-chicken soup and the recipe. And so it goes—recipes pour in along with Mark’s mom’s corn chowder, Darlene’s grandaunt’s oxtail soup, and Wendy’s mom’s miso soup. Recipes, however, don’t buy gifts, and at the end of the day Carrie has earned only ten dollars from Dad. That and Mrs. Max’s idea are enough to buy Mom’s gift—a blank book in which Carrie can write her newfound recipes. Preparing for Hanukkah, Mrs. Max reminds Carrie that “good soup with a friend warms more than the body.” The recipes included give readers an opportunity to test that notion in a book more cookery than fiction, more work-a-day than holiday. (Picture book. 5-8)

Pub Date: Aug. 7, 2000

ISBN: 1-57505-422-1

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Carolrhoda

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2000

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
EVERYBODY BRINGS NOODLES
by Norah Dooley & illustrated by Peter j. Thornton

- BOOK REVIEW
EVERYBODY BAKES BREAD
by Norah Dooley & illustrated by Peter j. Thornton

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SEE PIP POINT

From the Adventures of Otto series

by David Milgrim & illustrated by David Milgrim ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2003

Emergent readers will like the humor in little Pip’s pointed requests, and more engaging adventures for Otto and Pip will be...

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In his third beginning reader about Otto the robot, Milgrim (See Otto, 2002, etc.) introduces another new friend for Otto, a little mouse named Pip.

The simple plot involves a large balloon that Otto kindly shares with Pip after the mouse has a rather funny pointing attack. (Pip seems to be in that I-point-and-I-want-it phase common with one-year-olds.) The big purple balloon is large enough to carry Pip up and away over the clouds, until Pip runs into Zee the bee. (“Oops, there goes Pip.”) Otto flies a plane up to rescue Pip (“Hurry, Otto, Hurry”), but they crash (and splash) in front of some hippos with another big balloon, and the story ends as it begins, with a droll “See Pip point.” Milgrim again succeeds in the difficult challenge of creating a real, funny story with just a few simple words. His illustrations utilize lots of motion and basic geometric shapes with heavy black outlines, all against pastel backgrounds with text set in an extra-large typeface.

Emergent readers will like the humor in little Pip’s pointed requests, and more engaging adventures for Otto and Pip will be welcome additions to the limited selection of funny stories for children just beginning to read. (Easy reader. 5-7)