Neighborly communication and care are at the heart of this excellent tale for young readers.
A boy covets his neighbor’s cat and finds both feline and human friendship in this illustrated children’s book.
When a friendly cat appears in his yard on Halloween, Benjy, a White boy, sees it as a sign that Tricks is meant to be his, though his parents have steadfastly refused to get any pets. Benjy’s mom insists the social cat can’t be a stray (“She’s too well fed. She smells too good”). Indeed, it turns out that the feline belongs to Erika, the new neighbor, who has started staying with her grandmother during the week while she attends a Deaf school in the area. Erika, a Black girl with curly hair, uses a hearing aid, lip-reads, and is learning sign language—and she makes the sign for stealing in front of Benjy. This inauspicious introduction becomes a friendship when Mrs. Currie, Erika’s grandmother, has to pick Benjy up from school after he helps rescue Tricks, whose real name is Fluffy, from the street’s misanthropic tomcat. Erika warms to Benjy and teaches him signs. When her parents suggest that Fluffy should live with them, rather than travel back and forth each weekend with Erika, Benjy proposes a win-win solution. Fluffy will live with Erika during the week and Benjy on weekends. Erika’s participation in Deaf culture is depicted as a source of well-being. She finds friends, a community, and a positive environment at her Deaf school. Pattison’s text is accessible for newly independent readers, and the simple story is undergirded by a satisfying emotional realism. Benjy’s single-minded pursuit of a pet—and his love of Fluffy—is one-note but deeply relatable. Pet lovers will be encouraged by Benjy’s and Erika’s caring, reasonable families. McBride’s sketches in graphite are useful visual cues for coming plot points in this gentle, engaging story. Erika’s signs are illustrated with clear diagrams, and an addendum teaches readers a few more.
Neighborly communication and care are at the heart of this excellent tale for young readers.Pub Date: Aug. 9, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-62944-209-9
Page Count: 46
Publisher: Mims House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Only for dedicated fans of the series.
When a kid gets the part of the ninja master in the school play, it finally seems to be the right time to tackle the closet monster.
“I spot my monster right away. / He’s practicing his ROAR. / He almost scares me half to death, / but I won’t be scared anymore!” The monster is a large, fluffy poison-green beast with blue hands and feet and face and a fluffy blue-and-green–striped tail. The kid employs a “bag of tricks” to try to catch the monster: in it are a giant wind-up shark, two cans of silly string, and an elaborate cage-and-robot trap. This last works, but with an unexpected result: the monster looks sad. Turns out he was only scaring the boy to wake him up so they could be friends. The monster greets the boy in the usual monster way: he “rips a massive FART!!” that smells like strawberries and lime, and then they go to the monster’s house to meet his parents and play. The final two spreads show the duo getting ready for bed, which is a rather anticlimactic end to what has otherwise been a rambunctious tale. Elkerton’s bright illustrations have a TV-cartoon aesthetic, and his playful beast is never scary. The narrator is depicted with black eyes and hair and pale skin. Wallace’s limping verses are uninspired at best, and the scansion and meter are frequently off.
Only for dedicated fans of the series. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-4894-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
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The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted...
Reinvention is the name of the game for two blobs of clay.
A blue-eyed gray blob and a brown-eyed brown blob sit side by side, unsure as to what’s going to happen next. The gray anticipates an adventure, while the brown appears apprehensive. A pair of hands descends, and soon, amid a flurry of squishing and prodding and poking and sculpting, a handsome gray wolf and a stately brown owl emerge. The hands disappear, leaving the friends to their own devices. The owl is pleased, but the wolf convinces it that the best is yet to come. An ear pulled here and an extra eye placed there, and before you can shake a carving stick, a spurt of frenetic self-exploration—expressed as a tangled black scribble—reveals a succession of smug hybrid beasts. After all, the opportunity to become a “pig-e-phant” doesn’t come around every day. But the sound of approaching footsteps panics the pair of Picassos. How are they going to “fix [them]selves” on time? Soon a hippopotamus and peacock are staring bug-eyed at a returning pair of astonished hands. The creative naiveté of the “clay mates” is perfectly captured by Petty’s feisty, spot-on dialogue: “This was your idea…and it was a BAD one.” Eldridge’s endearing sculpted images are photographed against the stark white background of an artist’s work table to great effect.
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted fun of their own . (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 20, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-316-30311-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
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BOOK REVIEW
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