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HORACE P. TUTTLE

MAGICIAN EXTRAORDINAIRE!

Fruity artwork in deep color helps put some luster into this agenda-driven story. Horace P. Tuttle fancies himself a magician extraordinaire, though his hand is more ham than sleight: he pokes his assistant Trixie during the sword-in-the-box trick; the rabbit sneezes in Horace’s pocket when he should be getting pulled from his hat; the love bird mopes through his silken-scarf routine. Horace berates them in the dressing room: “How is the audience supposed to believe my magic tricks if you keep shrieking and sneezing?” They try to explain, but Horace calls them an ungrateful bunch. He’s on the marquee; they can go take a hike. And so they do. Horace soon learns that things can get a whole lot worse. Without his assistants, his incompetence falls squarely on his shoulders and he’s booed off the stage. Reduced to performing on the sidewalk, he bumps into his old pals. Why not get together? Why not, they reply, having had none too easy a time of it themselves. Their new act—“The 5 Fantasticoes”—is sure to be a smash hit. Schneider’s message comes at readers like a freight train—actually, like a trick in the hands of Horace P. Tuttle: artless and obvious. But the illustrations have enough fanciful glamour on their own to float the show. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2001

ISBN: 0-8027-8788-6

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Walker

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2001

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PUMPKIN COUNTDOWN

Between its autumn and field-trip themes and the fact that not many books start countdowns from 20, this may find its way to...

A class visits the pumpkin patch, giving readers a chance to count down from 20.

At the farm, Farmer Mixenmatch gives them the tour, which includes a petting zoo, an educational area, a corn maze and a tractor ride to the pumpkin patch. Holub’s text cleverly though not always successfully rhymes each child’s name within the line: “ ‘Eighteen kids get on our bus,’ says Russ. / ‘But someone’s late,’ says Kate. / ‘Wait for me!’ calls Kiri.” Pumpkins at the tops of pages contain the numerals that match the text, allowing readers to pair them with the orange-colored, spelled-out numbers. Some of the objects proffered to count are a bit of a stretch—“Guess sixteen things we’ll see,” count 14 cars that arrived at the farm before the bus—but Smith’s artwork keeps things easy to count, except for a challenging page that asks readers to search for 17 orange items (answers are at the bottom, upside down). Strangely, Holub includes one page with nothing to count—a sign marks “15 Pumpkin Street.” Charming, multicultural round-faced characters and lots of detail encourage readers to go back through the book scouring pages for the 16 things the kids guessed they might see. Endpapers featuring a smattering of pumpkin facts round out the text.

Between its autumn and field-trip themes and the fact that not many books start countdowns from 20, this may find its way to many library shelves. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: July 1, 2012

ISBN: 978-0-8075-6660-2

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Whitman

Review Posted Online: May 15, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2012

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TRASHY TOWN

Part of a spate of books intent on bringing the garbage collectors in children’s lives a little closer, this almost matches...

Listeners will quickly take up the percussive chorus—“Dump it in, smash it down, drive around the Trashy town! Is the trash truck full yet? NO”—as they follow burly Mr. Gilly, the garbage collector, on his rounds from park to pizza parlor and beyond.

Flinging cans and baskets around with ease, Mr. Gilly dances happily through streetscapes depicted with loud colors and large, blocky shapes; after a climactic visit to the dump, he roars home for a sudsy bath.

Part of a spate of books intent on bringing the garbage collectors in children’s lives a little closer, this almost matches Eve Merriam’s Bam Bam Bam (1995), also illustrated by Yaccarino, for sheer verbal and visual volume. (Picture book. 5-7)

Pub Date: April 30, 1999

ISBN: 0-06-027139-6

Page Count: 32

Publisher: HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1999

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