by C.L.G. Martin & illustrated by Peter Elwell ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 30, 1991
Fright is compounded by humiliation: Caitlin took off her pants because a spider was crawling on them, and Billy saw her underpants. Tactfully, Mama and Grammy reminisce about similar embarrassing moments and their own continuing phobias until the three are giggling and teasing together. Finally, Caitlin decides to confront her fear, thus setting the others a good example: she captures a spider and takes it to Billy, only to find that he too has a fear to overcome. In a text long enough to double as a young reader, the author of the well-received The Dragon Nanny (1988) presents a pleasing picture of three generations interacting as equals, with the youngest given the satisfying role of helping the others take a new look at an old problem. Elwell's pen-and-watercolor illustrations center on dramatic moments and expressed emotions, underlining the subtle similarities between the three ``women'' at different ages. An attractive realistic story. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: April 30, 1991
ISBN: 0-02-762445-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1991
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by C.L.G. Martin & illustrated by Diane Dawson Hearn
by Andrew Clements & illustrated by R.W. Alley ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 23, 2005
Give this child’s-eye view of a day at the beach with an attentive father high marks for coziness: “When your ball blows across the sand and into the ocean and starts to drift away, your daddy could say, Didn’t I tell you not to play too close to the waves? But he doesn’t. He wades out into the cold water. And he brings your ball back to the beach and plays roll and catch with you.” Alley depicts a moppet and her relaxed-looking dad (to all appearances a single parent) in informally drawn beach and domestic settings: playing together, snuggling up on the sofa and finally hugging each other goodnight. The third-person voice is a bit distancing, but it makes the togetherness less treacly, and Dad’s mix of love and competence is less insulting, to parents and children both, than Douglas Wood’s What Dads Can’t Do (2000), illus by Doug Cushman. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: May 23, 2005
ISBN: 0-618-00361-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2005
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by Andrew Clements & illustrated by Mark Elliott
by David Wiesner ; illustrated by David Wiesner ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2020
A retro-futuristic romp, literally and figuratively screwy.
Robo-parents Diode and Lugnut present daughter Cathode with a new little brother—who requires, unfortunately, some assembly.
Arriving in pieces from some mechanistic version of Ikea, little Flange turns out to be a cute but complicated tyke who immediately falls apart…and then rockets uncontrollably about the room after an overconfident uncle tinkers with his basic design. As a squad of helpline techies and bevies of neighbors bearing sludge cake and like treats roll in, the cluttered and increasingly crowded scene deteriorates into madcap chaos—until at last Cath, with help from Roomba-like robodog Sprocket, stages an intervention by whisking the hapless new arrival off to a backyard workshop for a proper assembly and software update. “You’re such a good big sister!” warbles her frazzled mom. Wiesner’s robots display his characteristic clean lines and even hues but endearingly look like vaguely anthropomorphic piles of random jet-engine parts and old vacuum cleaners loosely connected by joints of armored cable. They roll hither and thither through neatly squared-off panels and pages in infectiously comical dismay. Even the end’s domestic tranquility lasts only until Cathode spots the little box buried in the bigger one’s packing material: “TWINS!” (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-22-inch double-page spreads viewed at 52% of actual size.)
A retro-futuristic romp, literally and figuratively screwy. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-544-98731-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2020
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by David Wiesner ; illustrated by David Wiesner
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by Donna Jo Napoli & David Wiesner ; illustrated by David Wiesner
BOOK REVIEW
by David Wiesner ; illustrated by David Wiesner
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