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BLACK CAT

Name: BLACK CAT
Author: Christopher Myers
ISBN: 0-590-03375-1

by Christopher Myers ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1999

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Myers (Walter Dean Myers’s Harlem, 1997) makes use of an idea with promise—following the trail of a black cat on its urban beat—but the result is less a hip city tour than a tortured grab at cool. Photographs form the backgrounds on which paint is layered, heightening some effects, flattening others. Onto these tinkered photographs are grafted cut-outs of a cat in various feline poses: licking a raised leg, strutting along a rooftop, preparing to pounce. Aspects of the cityscape are well served by the artistic approach—night scenes, building facades, sidewalks. But the text can be contradictory and obscure (“hearing the quiet language of invisible trains”) or, perhaps unintentionally, terrifying (“watching children screaming in playground cages”). (Picture book. 5-9)

Pub Date: April 1, 1999

ISBN: 0-590-03375-1

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Scholastic

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1999

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

- BOOK REVIEW
NIGHTTIME SYMPHONY
by Timbaland with Christopher Myers ; illustrated by Christopher Myers & Kaa Illustration

- BOOK REVIEW
JAKE MAKES A WORLD
by Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts ; illustrated by Christopher Myers

- BOOK REVIEW
MY PEN
by Christopher Myers ; illustrated by Christopher Myers

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RED-EYED TREE FROG

by Joy Cowley ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1999

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Bishop’s spectacular photographs of the tiny red-eyed tree frog defeat an incidental text from Cowley (Singing Down the Rain, 1997, etc.). The frog, only two inches long, is enormous in this title; it appears along with other nocturnal residents of the rain forests of Central America, including the iguana, ant, katydid, caterpillar, and moth. In a final section, Cowley explains how small the frog is and aspects of its life cycle. The main text, however, is an afterthought to dramatic events in the photos, e.g., “But the red-eyed tree frog has been asleep all day. It wakes up hungry. What will it eat? Here is an iguana. Frogs do not eat iguanas.” Accompanying an astonishing photograph of the tree frog leaping away from a boa snake are three lines (“The snake flicks its tongue. It tastes frog in the air. Look out, frog!”) that neither advance nor complement the action. The layout employs pale and deep green pages and typeface, and large jewel-like photographs in which green and red dominate. The combination of such visually sophisticated pages and simplistic captions make this a top-heavy, unsatisfying title. (Picture book. 7-9)

Pub Date: March 1, 1999

ISBN: 0-590-87175-7

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Scholastic

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1999

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

- BOOK REVIEW
THE TINY WOMAN'S COAT
by Joy Cowley ; illustrated by Giselle Clarkson

- BOOK REVIEW
SONG OF THE RIVER
by Joy Cowley ; illustrated by Kimberly Andrews

- BOOK REVIEW
THE WARLI PEOPLE
by Hye-Eun Shin ; illustrated by Su-Bi Jeong ; edited by Joy Cowley

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QUACK AND COUNT

by Keith Baker & illustrated by Keith Baker ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 1999

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Baker (Big Fat Hen, 1994, etc.) engages in more number play, posing ducklings in every combination of groups, e.g., “Splashing as they leap and dive/7 ducklings, 2 plus 5.” Using a great array of streaked and dappled papers, Baker creates a series of leafy collage scenes for the noisy, exuberant ducklings to fill, tucking in an occasional ladybug or other small creature for sharp-eyed pre-readers to spot. Children will regretfully wave goodbye as the ducks fly off in neat formation at the end of this brief, painless introduction to several basic math concepts. (Picture book. 4-6)