by Claude Ponti ; illustrated by Claude Ponti ; translated by Alyson Waters ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 22, 2018
Itzabyuti thruenthru.
An ugly monster sets out on a wonderfully strange journey of self-discovery.
The translated text ambles along smoothly enough, but Ponti’s illustrations—equally rich in warm feeling and surreal, precisely drawn figures and details—give the tale wings. Considered so hideous (one member of the comically appalled family gathered around his hatched egg has turned away to throw up) that everyone’s first response becomes his given name, Hiznobyuti eventually runs away from his comfy, cluttered refuge beneath the kitchen sink. He adventures, slaying a much-larger monster with one colossal sneeze, temporarily transforming himself into a tree, “communophoning” with the stars, and saving a dead planet by waking its sun (and a princess on a nearby satellite), among other heroic feats. Home he goes, to find it in ruins and his family in tears since his departure: “Words said the opposite of what they meant, hands did whatever they wanted, and meals were not tasty at all.” Following a joyful reunion featuring “fourteen ordinary desserts and twenty-eight extraordinary ones,” though, everyone dances and sets about rebuilding. Hiznobyuti is left at the end thinking of one last exploit…to see if the princess might want to marry him. Human readers could hardly be repulsed by his looks as, aside from a short trunk, he resembles, like the rest of his clan, an anthropomorphic golden meerkat with wide, batlike ears.
Itzabyuti thruenthru. (Picture book. 7-10)Pub Date: May 22, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-914671-90-9
Page Count: 35
Publisher: Elsewhere Editions
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
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by Claude Ponti ; illustrated by Claude Ponti
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by Claude Ponti ; illustrated by Claude Ponti ; translated by Alyson Waters
by Suzy Kline ; illustrated by Amy Wummer ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 27, 2018
A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode.
A long-running series reaches its closing chapters.
Having, as Kline notes in her warm valedictory acknowledgements, taken 30 years to get through second and third grade, Harry Spooger is overdue to move on—but not just into fourth grade, it turns out, as his family is moving to another town as soon as the school year ends. The news leaves his best friend, narrator “Dougo,” devastated…particularly as Harry doesn’t seem all that fussed about it. With series fans in mind, the author takes Harry through a sort of last-day-of-school farewell tour. From his desk he pulls a burned hot dog and other items that featured in past episodes, says goodbye to Song Lee and other classmates, and even (for the first time ever) leads Doug and readers into his house and memento-strewn room for further reminiscing. Of course, Harry isn’t as blasé about the move as he pretends, and eyes aren’t exactly dry when he departs. But hardly is he out of sight before Doug is meeting Mohammad, a new neighbor from Syria who (along with further diversifying a cast that began as mostly white but has become increasingly multiethnic over the years) will also be starting fourth grade at summer’s end, and planning a written account of his “horrible” buddy’s exploits. Finished illustrations not seen.
A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Nov. 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-451-47963-1
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2018
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by Suzy Kline & illustrated by Sami Sweeten
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by Suzy Kline & illustrated by Frank Remkiewicz
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by Suzy Kline & illustrated by Frank Remkiewicz
by Claudia Mills ; illustrated by Rob Shepperson ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 14, 2016
Another winner from Mills, equally well suited to reading aloud and independent reading.
When Franklin School principal Mr. Boone announces a pet-show fundraiser, white third-grader Cody—whose lack of skill and interest in academics is matched by keen enthusiasm for and knowledge of animals—discovers his time to shine.
As with other books in this series, the children and adults are believable and well-rounded. Even the dialogue is natural—no small feat for a text easily accessible to intermediate readers. Character growth occurs, organically and believably. Students occasionally, humorously, show annoyance with teachers: “He made mad squinty eyes at Mrs. Molina, which fortunately she didn’t see.” Readers will be kept entertained by Cody’s various problems and the eventual solutions. His problems include needing to raise $10 to enter one of his nine pets in the show (he really wants to enter all of them), his troublesome dog Angus—“a dog who ate homework—actually, who ate everything and then threw up afterward”—struggles with homework, and grappling with his best friend’s apparently uncaring behavior toward a squirrel. Serious values and issues are explored with a light touch. The cheery pencil illustrations show the school’s racially diverse population as well as the memorable image of Mr. Boone wearing an elephant costume. A minor oddity: why does a child so immersed in animal facts call his male chicken a rooster but his female chickens chickens?
Another winner from Mills, equally well suited to reading aloud and independent reading. (Fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: June 14, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-374-30223-8
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2016
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by Claudia Mills ; illustrated by Grace Zong
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by Claudia Mills ; illustrated by Grace Zong
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