It’s a little labored, but poop jokes never get old, right? (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 7-9)
Early Bird’s underachieving little brother finally gets a taste of worm in this daft series opener.
Too proud to accept any worm he hasn’t caught or at least earned himself but unable, despite repeated efforts, to beat his annoyingly zippy sibling out of the nest in the morning, Tweety Pie–look-alike Speed Bump (related only in name to the author’s syndicated cartoon) at last nerves himself to take a scary pre-dawn stroll—and comes upon a veritable convention of angry Nightcrawlers setting a trap for Early. Coverly sets up and presents the outing in a mix of prose and pen-and-ink sketches, with the pictures tending to shoulder out the text. Both, however, are liberally festooned with gags, sight gags, potty humor, and puns: “They hatched plans, but got eggsasperated because they knew none of them would work, and this was no yolking matter.” Speed Bump is assisted by avian sidekick Slingshot, who is first met gleefully shooting an unwary squirrel in the “derrière” with a berry. He also enlists unlikely new buds Soda Pop the mouse and Hoover the owl to help spring the trap (prematurely). Unfortunately, his squirmy reward leaves him scurrying off in search of vegetarian fare (“CHEESABLE MERCY! WORMS ARE DISGUSTING!”) and further misadventures.
It’s a little labored, but poop jokes never get old, right? (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 7-9)Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-8050-8886-1
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano/Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: June 9, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This oversized volume won’t fit on a bookshelf; leave it open on a table to display the art.
Poems celebrate 12 animals that might be found in American backyards.
This collection complements Held and Kim's The Yard Critters (2011), which similarly invites young readers to think about beings that share their world. From ladybugs to chipmunks, each double-page spread features a different creature, one that may be familiar from storybooks, if not from personal experience. In a few short stanzas, the poet describes both attributes and habits. Of the porcupine: “It’s a thrill / to see this / walking quill / cushion // strolling uphill / from the cellar / where he’s built / a den down under.” “So much / does Nature / love her, / Shrew // can birth / ten litters / per year— / whew!” There’s even a riddle: “Flying from Belize to bless our summer, / this ingenious gem is called the ———.” (The word “hummer” appears in a later poem, “Field Mouse.”) Not all the ideas are important or even accurate; this is not an informational book. Nor are these your usual children’s poems. The vocabulary is sophisticated. The rhymes and sound patterns are complex and vary unpredictably. With only 12 poems, this title may seem slight. What adds value are Kim’s intriguing collage illustrations, creating stylized but recognizable animal images set on generous white space with elements crossing the gutter to lead eyes to the text.
This oversized volume won’t fit on a bookshelf; leave it open on a table to display the art. (Picture book/poetry. 7-9)Pub Date: Jan. 17, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-916754-26-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Filsinger & Co.
Review Posted Online: Nov. 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2012
A visually polished print debut—with a teaser on the front flap for the app version in place of a blurb. Unsurprisingly,...
Hypercool paintings featuring alien school kids and elaborately detailed planetscapes juice up this weakly plotted tale of a young tinkerer transported to a galactic academy.
Tyler is mostly given to the sort of smarmy inventions that let him spy into his sister’s bedroom or splatter his dad with paint. Despite this, Tyler is promoted to an extremely multicultural orbiting school where he has a (sometimes literal) blast learning to use a jet pack and taking field trips to exotic planets. Cole, a digital artist with a hefty film résumé, plants an unrepentant smirk on his bright-eyed protagonist, surrounds him with heavily made-up but basically humanoid schoolmates, and places him in a series of atmospheric, dazzlingly finished high-tech or extraplanetary settings. Tyler’s overly expository first-person narration makes liberal use of exclamation points, an irritant that some readers may find mitigated by the cool sci-fi language. Readers of Mark Fearing’s Earthling! (2012), Aaron Reynolds and Andy Rash’s Superhero School (2009) and Dave Roman’s Astronaut Academy (2011) may feel a sense of déjà vu, but there’s more than enough eye candy to compensate.
A visually polished print debut—with a teaser on the front flap for the app version in place of a blurb. Unsurprisingly, also in development as a film. (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-9334-9277-3
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Design Studio Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 30, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2012
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