Now that mega-tycoon (and ex-major leaguer) Boss Swaggert has outlawed baseball, it's winter in America all year `round; he's replaced ballfields with factories (patrolled by hulking police in modified football uniforms) and thrown the ballplayers into cold Candlestick Prison. Into this dreary world is born little Georgie, who throws snowballs that curve around corners amd speaks only banned baseballese (not ``Good morning'' but ``Batter up!''). Nabbed at last, he proposes a contest: if he can throw three pitches past Boss Swaggert, baseball will be restored. If not.... Shannon, whose dark, looming figures strikingly enhanced the drama in Yolen's Encounter (1992), gives this contest, too, an epic feel- -plus a broad streak of comedy; Swaggert, with beetling brows and a huge potato nose, strikes out spectacularly and is last seen ingratiatingly vending peanuts at a game, under blue summer skies. Knowledgeable fans will enjoy the many baseball references cleverly inserted here; Georgie, for instance, recalls Charles (``Old Hoss'') Radbourn, the 19th century's greatest pitcher. (Picture Book. 7-11)
Pub Date: April 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-590-47410-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Every year since kindergarten, Harry’s Halloween costume has gotten scarier and scarier. What’s it going to be this year? He’s not telling. His classmates are all stunned when he shows up, not as some monster or a weird alien (well, not really)—but as neatly dressed Sgt. Joe Friday of Dragnet fame, wielding a notebook and out to get “just the facts, ma’am.” As she has in Harry’s 11 previous appearances (15, counting the ones his classmate Song Lee headlines), Kline (Marvin and the Mean Words, 1997, etc.) captures grammar-school atmosphere, personalities, and incidents perfectly, from snits to science projects gone hilariously wrong. She even hands Harry/Friday a chance to exercise his sleuthing abilities, with a supply of baby powder “fairy dust” gone mysteriously missing. As legions of fans have learned to expect, Harry comes through with flying colors, pinning down the remorseful culprit in 11 minutes flat. No surprises here, just reliable, child-friendly, middle-grade fare. Illustrations not seen. (Fiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-670-88864-8
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
When Hades sees Persephone gathering flowers in a field, he carries her off to the underworld to be his queen. Her mother Demeter is so distraught that she curses Earth with endless winter. With intervention from Zeus and other gods, Persephone is found and rejoins her mother. But she ate pomegranate seeds while in the underworld and so must spend three months each year with Hades, during which time winter occurs above ground. This pourquoi tale from ancient Greek mythology has everything to recommend it to modern readers. Clayton employs vivid imagery, powerful emotions and loads of action to convey adventure, grief, love, drama and the circle of life. Dialogue is crisp and accessible, while retaining just a hint of the formality expected of gods and goddesses. Lee’s imaginative illustrations, detailed in glowing earth tones and sweeping across double-page spreads, complement the action. In depicting the characters, she borrows features from Greek statues but manages to give them humanity. A beautiful retelling of an enduring myth. (Picture book/mythology. 7-10)
Pub Date: March 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-8028-5349-3
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Eerdmans
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2009
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