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GUS AND GRANDPA RIDE THE TRAIN

Name: GUS AND GRANDPA RIDE THE TRAIN
Author: Claudia Mills
ISBN: 0-374-32826-9

by Claudia Mills & illustrated by Catherine Stock ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 23, 1998

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In another affectionate look at Gus and Grandpa (1997), the pair exhibit their mutual passion for trains. Every time Gus visits Grandpa, he listens for the train that will soon pass the house, going outside in time to wave as it rumbles by. One day he is so involved in the sight that he forgets to close the gate; Skipper, Grandpa's dog, gets out, but comes back before he is hurt. That's only the beginning of three stories about forgetting and remembering: In the second one, Gus and Grandpa search for an old toy train, but shut Skipper in the shed by accident, and in the third, Grandpa almost ruins a real train trip when he ``loses'' the tickets, carefully tucked into his hatband. The stories and art have a deceptive simplicity missing from the first book, and carry understated messages of love and sharing between a boy and his kindly grandfather; as Mills makes clear, they may be a bit forgetful, but they never forget that they love each other. (Fiction. 5-8)

Pub Date: March 23, 1998

ISBN: 0-374-32826-9

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1998

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
THE LAST APPLE TREE
by Claudia Mills

- BOOK REVIEW
THE LOST LANGUAGE
by Claudia Mills

- BOOK REVIEW
BOOGIE BASS, SIGN LANGUAGE STAR
by Claudia Mills ; illustrated by Grace Zong

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THE DOG THAT DUG FOR DINOSAURS

by Shirley Redmond & illustrated by Simon Sullivan ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2004

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This easy reader for children reading at the fluency level recounts the story of a girl named Mary Ann Anning and her dog, Tray. They lived on the coast of England in the early 1800s, although the time frame is given only as “a long, long time ago.” Mary Ann and Tray became famous for their discoveries of fossils, including dinosaur bones. They discovered the first pterodactyl found in England, and the name was assigned to their fossil. The story focuses a little too much on the dog, and the title misses a great opportunity to completely acknowledge a girl accomplishing something important in the scientific world, especially in a much earlier era and without formal training or education. Despite this drawback, both Mary Ann and Tray are appealing characters and the discovery of the fossils and subsequent notice from scientists, collectors, and even royalty is appealing and well written. Sullivan’s illustrations provide intriguing period details in costumes, tools, and buildings, as well as a clever front endpaper of fossil-strewn ground covered with muddy paw prints. (Easy reader. 6-8)

Pub Date: July 1, 2004

ISBN: 0-689-85708-X

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Aladdin

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2004

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

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PROFESSOR ASTRO CAT'S SPACE ROCKETS

From the Professor Astro Cat series

by Dominic Walliman ; illustrated by Ben Newman ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 4, 2018

Energetic enough to carry younger rocketeers off the launch pad if not into a very high orbit.

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The bubble-helmeted feline explains what rockets do and the role they have played in sending people (and animals) into space.

Addressing a somewhat younger audience than in previous outings (Professor Astro Cat’s Frontiers of Space, 2013, etc.), Astro Cat dispenses with all but a light shower of “factoroids” to describe how rockets work. A highly selective “History of Space Travel” follows—beginning with a crew of fruit flies sent aloft in 1947, later the dog Laika (her dismal fate left unmentioned), and the human Yuri Gagarin. Then it’s on to Apollo 11 in 1969; the space shuttles Discovery, Columbia, and Challenger (the fates of the latter two likewise elided); the promise of NASA’s next-gen Orion and the Space Launch System; and finally vague closing references to other rockets in the works for local tourism and, eventually, interstellar travel. In the illustrations the spacesuited professor, joined by a mouse and cat in similar dress, do little except float in space and point at things. Still, the art has a stylish retro look, and portraits of Sally Ride and Guion Bluford diversify an otherwise all-white, all-male astronaut corps posing heroically or riding blocky, geometric spacecraft across starry reaches.

Energetic enough to carry younger rocketeers off the launch pad if not into a very high orbit. (glossary) (Informational picture book. 6-8)