It’s a good thing more books are on the way.
A homeless dog is on a mission to find an owner in this first entry of a chapter-book series from France.
Dumpster Dog is smelly, looks like an old rug, and can’t tell left from right. This pup of indeterminate breed may not be very smart, but he has a kind heart. Dumpster Dog shares his garbage can with his friend Flat Cat, who was run over as a kitten and is indeed flat. When Dumpster Dog expresses his longing for an owner, Flat Cat encourages the down-on-his-luck pooch to go out into the world and find one (along with a bicycle pump “to re-inflate” his feline pal). Like his fan club of flies, misadventure follows Dumpster Dog everywhere. Just when the hapless Dumpster Dog thinks he’s found his owner, the man takes him to the butcher to be made into sausage. Fortunately, Dumpster Dog isn’t very appealing! (But the poodle and basset hound are destined for somebody’s dinner, a detail the text elides.) He escapes only to come up against a trio of greedy, burgling kidnappers. Can Dumpster Dog save the day? And will Flat Cat ever be reinflated? Independent readers will delight in Dumpster Dog’s tongue-in-cheek escapades; the book is also suitable as a chapter-per-night bedtime story for pre-readers. The full-color artwork is rendered in a 1950s cartoon style with ironic touches that complement the action. Humans are shown as white.
It’s a good thing more books are on the way. (Animal fantasy. 6-10)Pub Date: June 11, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-59270-235-0
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Enchanted Lion Books
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2019
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look...
Winning actually isn’t everything, as jazz-happy Rooster learns when he goes up against the legendary likes of Mules Davis and Ella Finchgerald at the barnyard talent show.
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look good—particularly after his “ ‘Hen from Ipanema’ [makes] / the barnyard chickies swoon.”—but in the end the competition is just too stiff. No matter: A compliment from cool Mules and the conviction that he still has the world’s best band soon puts the strut back in his stride. Alexander’s versifying isn’t always in tune (“So, he went to see his cousin, / a pianist of great fame…”), and despite his moniker Rooster plays an electric bass in Bower’s canted country scenes. Children are unlikely to get most of the jokes liberally sprinkled through the text, of course, so the adults sharing it with them should be ready to consult the backmatter, which consists of closing notes on jazz’s instruments, history and best-known musicians.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-58536-688-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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