Sure to have kids beside themselves with glee.
Who doesn’t want a new pair of underpants?
After receiving a gift of six pairs of day-of-the-week underwear (five for Monday through Friday and just one for the weekend), a child is inspired to pull out their arts and crafts supplies and make some very impressive and rather surprising undies to share with all of their real and imaginary friends. Their sister, some ants, a pirate, an octopus, a python, a tortoise, a bobblehead, a piggy bank, a clownfish, a race car, a wizard, a boomerang, and a dragon are just some of the lucky yet somewhat less than appreciative recipients of these whimsical creations. “I thought my friends would like their gifts—they didn’t seem to care!” our young hero briefly laments before realizing that “If underpants are optional, then I don’t need a pair.” Is that why the original gift was only six pairs instead of seven? No one will be able to look at the final illustration—of the bare-bottomed young narrator—without at least cracking…a smile. Depicting bulging-eyed people and animals, many hilariously perturbed at their new skivvies, the watercolor, ink, and pencil illustrations will delight readers, as will the rhyming text. This one is ideal for reluctant listeners and readers, lovers of bathroom humor, and those in need of a seriously strong chuckle. The child and their family members are brown-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Sure to have kids beside themselves with glee. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: May 16, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-79720-216-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
As Captain Awesome would say, this kid is “MI-TEE!” (Fiction. 5-8)
The town of Sunnyview got a little bit safer when 8-year-old Eugene McGillicudy moved in.
Just like his comic-book mentor, Super Dude, Eugene, aka Captain Awesome, is on a one-man mission is to save the world from supervillains, like the nefarious “Queen Stinkypants from Planet Baby.” Just as Eugene suspected, plenty of new supervillains await him at Sunnyview Elementary. Are Meredith Mooney and the mind-reading Ms. Beasley secretly working together to try and force Eugene to reveal his secret identity? Will Principal Brick Foot succeed in throwing Captain Awesome into the “Dungeon of Detention?” Fortunately, Eugene isn’t forced to go it alone. Charlie Thomas Jones, fellow comic-book lover and Super Dude fan, stands ready and willing to help. When the class hamster goes missing, Captain Awesome must don his cape and, with the help of his new best friend, ride to the rescue. Kirby’s funny and engaging third-person narration and O’Connor’s hilarious illustrations make the book easily accessible and enormously appealing, particularly to readers who have recently graduated to chapter books. But it is the quirky, mischievous Eugene that really makes this book special. His energy and humor are contagious, and his dogged commitment to his superhero alter ego is enough to make anyone a believer.
As Captain Awesome would say, this kid is “MI-TEE!” (Fiction. 5-8)Pub Date: April 3, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4424-4090-6
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 17, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
Powered by whimsy and nostalgia, a doggone adorable tale of superheroes transforming the world for the better.
Can flying puppies, fueled by people’s hugs, save the world from gloom?
Light-skinned Snarly McBummerpants is busy sending out Mopey Smokes (evil-looking dark brown clouds) from his volcano on the Island of Woe to create a sad state of affairs. But the caped puppies, each equipped with a rocket and hailing from “the outer reaches of NOT-FROM-HERE,” use their abilities to conquer the morose McBummerpants and bring happiness back to everyone’s lives. The meticulously detailed illustrations carry the story, dark colors turning to rainbow hues and frowns turning to smiles. From Big Brad to Tiny Brad, the smallest, most powerful puppy, who “[licks] a kiss right on the tip of Snarly McBummerpants’s nose,” these absolutely endearing pooches elicit a universal “AWWWWWWWWWW!” from all who encounter them. Joyce’s witty illustrations depict diverse children and adults who appear to hail from different decades. Two teenagers wear the bobby socks and saddle shoes of the 1940s and ’50s and sit atop a retro soda cooler. Other kids ride the skateboards of a later era. Laurel and Hardy, classic movie performers who may need introduction, are amusingly pictured as bullies turned florists (a little odd, since only Hardy bullied Laurel). Even McBummerpants seems reminiscent of an old-time movie villain. The text is less inventive than the pictures, but the message of good over evil is always timely.
Powered by whimsy and nostalgia, a doggone adorable tale of superheroes transforming the world for the better. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2024
ISBN: 9781665961332
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Caitlyn Dlouhy/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2024
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