The Strawberry Inn has vacancies for children who’d like to learn about fractions—as long as they don’t mind the wacky array of other guests in the inn. Miss Bloom is the innkeeper and welcomes each new arrival with aplomb, from the fishy-smelling sea captain to the Duchess and her pampered pooch. All enjoy her wonderful dinner. All also notice that she forgot to serve dessert, something quickly remedied by the bath-robed characters in the middle of the night. Repetitious phrasing and rollicking rhymes make this a good choice for younger readers, as do the visuals used to portray fractional amounts. Carter uses the inn itself and lights the six windows according to the number of rooms occupied, while also giving the fractional equivalent. The same is done with the cake, which, luckily for Miss Bloom, has one-sixth left for her. The brightly colored watercolor illustrations are quirky and delightfully detailed, and the cast of characters brimming with personality. Teachers should reserve a space on their bookshelves for this one. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-7636-2468-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2007
Categories: CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS
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A charmingly prolix tall tale of a boy so word-obsessed that he collects new words on slips of paper. They bulge from his pockets, float around his head and fill his world. Classmates nickname Selig “Wordsworth” and give him a word for his collection: “oddball.” The discovery that his purpose in life is to share his carefully chosen words with others leads to success and love. And, “if, one day, . . . the perfect word just seems to come to you . . . you’ll know that Selig is near.” Schotter’s words are enlivened by Potter’s distinctively naïve figures, all placed in settings in which words and labels are scattered about in a way that invites close inspection and promotes purposeful inquiry. It all adds up to an *exultant encounter, chockablock with tintinnabulating gusto (*see tantalizing glossary appended). A gift to precocious children and teachers as well. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: March 28, 2006
ISBN: 0-375-83601-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2006
Categories: CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS
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BOOK REVIEW
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BOOK REVIEW
Listeners will quickly take up the percussive chorus—“Dump it in, smash it down, drive around the Trashy town! Is the trash truck full yet? NO”—as they follow burly Mr. Gilly, the garbage collector, on his rounds from park to pizza parlor and beyond.
Flinging cans and baskets around with ease, Mr. Gilly dances happily through streetscapes depicted with loud colors and large, blocky shapes; after a climactic visit to the dump, he roars home for a sudsy bath.
Part of a spate of books intent on bringing the garbage collectors in children’s lives a little closer, this almost matches Eve Merriam’s Bam Bam Bam (1995), also illustrated by Yaccarino, for sheer verbal and visual volume. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: April 30, 1999
ISBN: 0-06-027139-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1999
Categories: CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S TRANSPORTATION
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