by David Merveille ; illustrated by David Merveille ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2013
Mr. Hulot may not be as well-known on this side of the pond as the Little Tramp or Buster Keaton, but he definitely merits a...
Twenty-two comical, wordless mini-episodes in sequential panels pay terrific tribute to a classic Chaplin-esque character created by actor/filmmaker Jacques Tati for a series of French movies.
Depicted as a nattily attired gent sporting a long pipe and umbrella that often serve as props, Hulot turns Parisian settings into places of magic or play. In “The Crossing,” a crosswalk becomes a series of crevasses to leap; a misguided snowball leads to a general melee in “The Snowball Effect”; shown the No Smoking sign on a bus in “Pipes Allowed,” Hulot responds by blowing bubbles. In other encounters, he props his umbrella in a tree to shelter birds on a rainy day, bends to admire a flower and thus moons a passing official and, trying his hand at plumbing repair, causes water to shoot out of all sorts of unexpected places. Merveille relates each of the loosely linked incidents in a half dozen or so neatly drawn and colored panels capped, after a page turn, with a large, single-panel twist or punch line. Enriching the silent narratives further, he frequently tucks in droll visual jokes or pairings that even less-sophisticated viewers will easily spot and certainly chortle over.
Mr. Hulot may not be as well-known on this side of the pond as the Little Tramp or Buster Keaton, but he definitely merits a seat in the same row. (afterword) (Graphic picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7358-4135-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: NorthSouth
Review Posted Online: July 2, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2013
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by Dr. Seuss ; illustrated by Dr. Seuss ; introduction by Charles D. Cohen ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 9, 2014
Fans both young and formerly young will be pleased—100 percent.
Published in magazines, never seen since / Now resurrected for pleasure intense / Versified episodes numbering four / Featuring Marco, and Horton and more!
All of the entries in this follow-up to The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories (2011) involve a certain amount of sharp dealing. Horton carries a Kwuggerbug through crocodile-infested waters and up a steep mountain because “a deal is a deal”—and then is cheated out of his promised share of delicious Beezlenuts. Officer Pat heads off escalating, imagined disasters on Mulberry Street by clubbing a pesky gnat. Marco (originally met on that same Mulberry Street) concocts a baroque excuse for being late to school. In the closer, a smooth-talking Grinch (not the green sort) sells a gullible Hoobub a piece of string. In a lively introduction, uber-fan Charles D. Cohen (The Seuss, The Whole Seuss, and Nothing but the Seuss, 2002) provides publishing histories, places characters and settings in Seussian context, and offers insights into, for instance, the origin of “Grinch.” Along with predictably engaging wordplay—“He climbed. He grew dizzy. His ankles grew numb. / But he climbed and he climbed and he clum and he clum”—each tale features bright, crisply reproduced renditions of its original illustrations. Except for “The Hoobub and the Grinch,” which has been jammed into a single spread, the verses and pictures are laid out in spacious, visually appealing ways.
Fans both young and formerly young will be pleased—100 percent. (Picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-385-38298-4
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
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by Chris Van Dusen ; illustrated by Chris Van Dusen ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 13, 2019
An all-day sugar rush, putting the “fun” back into, er, education.
A young visionary describes his ideal school: “Perfectly planned and impeccably clean. / On a scale, 1 to 10, it’s more like 15!”
In keeping with the self-indulgently fanciful lines of If I Built a Car (2005) and If I Built a House (2012), young Jack outlines in Seussian rhyme a shiny, bright, futuristic facility in which students are swept to open-roofed classes in clear tubes, there are no tests but lots of field trips, and art, music, and science are afterthoughts next to the huge and awesome gym, playground, and lunchroom. A robot and lots of cute puppies (including one in a wheeled cart) greet students at the door, robotically made-to-order lunches range from “PB & jelly to squid, lightly seared,” and the library’s books are all animated popups rather than the “everyday regular” sorts. There are no guards to be seen in the spacious hallways—hardly any adults at all, come to that—and the sparse coed student body features light- and dark-skinned figures in roughly equal numbers, a few with Asian features, and one in a wheelchair. Aside from the lack of restrooms, it seems an idyllic environment—at least for dog-loving children who prefer sports and play over quieter pursuits.
An all-day sugar rush, putting the “fun” back into, er, education. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-525-55291-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019
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