More than a few pennies shy of a full dollar.
In her latest book, Penny uses her craft skills to help her grandmother pay for some home repairs.
From page 1, readers who have not read about Penny’s previous monetary escapades (Pretty Penny Sets up Shop, 2010, etc.) will be slightly lost, as Bunny (Penny’s grandmother), Iggy, (an animated stuffed pig?) and the Small Mall (an attic space for crafting and displaying sale items) are never explained. A noise in the night turns out to be a flood in the basement that will cost $100 to fix(!), but Bunny has spent all the money budgeted for house repairs. Penny sleeps on the problem, waking up with the solution—a jewelry show. After two days of crafting, the Small Mall is ready for friends and neighbors to browse. Though Penny makes $60 from the jewelry sale, she has to subtract the $10 spent on supplies to find their profit. Wooden dialogue and stilted sentences plague this outing, and readers will have to suspend some disbelief to get through it—how are customers to get to a shop in the house’s attic? Do Penny and Iggy go to the craft store on their own? And why is the plumber still working and Bunny still mopping two days later? Kinch’s digital illustrations are bright and detailed, though there are a few missteps—the shadows are off, and Bunny is far from “knee-deep in water,” as described.
More than a few pennies shy of a full dollar. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-375-86737-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
Skip this tour. (Picture book. 5-8)
A class trip to the Big Apple is played out as a variation of the "Twelve Days of Christmas."
The teacher and five children cover the must-see sights of New York City, but they find its exciting quirkiness even more fascinating. Each day and sight has its own double-page spread with the rhythmic text prominently placed. A few word bubbles allow additional comments. Only the Statue of Liberty is actually named in the song, while all the other sights are indicated by something noticed there. They see "Two Folks in Love" in a buggy in Central Park and "Eight Babes a-Bawling" in Grand Central Station, along with the nine other places that add up to 12 days of sightseeing. (One can only begin to imagine at the budget that allows this lengthy a stay.) Ford's illustrations, rendered in a variety of media including India ink, gouache, dyes and Photoshop, depict the city in bright, glowing tones that are cartoonlike but manage to capture the essence of the people and places. Unfortunately, they also include some disturbing elements underneath the lightheartedness. One child uses a slingshot at the Statue of Liberty, another young visitor gets into the dinosaur exhibit at the Museum of Natural History, and ethnic and class stereotypes abound at several of the places visited.
Skip this tour. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: March 12, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4197-0542*
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A one-trick pony—and the visual trick is much better presented in Rufus Butler Seder’s actual Scanimation series.
A low-rent Scanimation-knockoff import features a small sheet of finely barred plastic that creates moiré patterns and streams of movement when slid across a set of large, garish abstracts.
Aside from a mention of Central Park in the text and a “Broadway” street sign in one illustration, there is nothing here specific to the Big Apple. Instead, a carrot-nosed cartoon figure in striped pajamas floats over swirls of short, bar code–like lines. These are transformed, by sliding the plastic sheet very slowly across the page, into aerial views of dots, circles and spinning wheels moving through intersections or vaguely urban settings. Some scenes toward the end become fields of flashing lights intense enough to make the cautionary note on the back cover (“WARNING: CONTAINS FLASHING IMAGES”) a good idea. After delivering commentary that runs to inane lines like “The traffic speeds in a tangled race, / but all roads lead to much the same place,” the PJ-clad guide flies back to bed with a “Wakey, wakey, rise and shine! / Goodbye my friend, / Until next time.” A “next time” is unlikely for most readers.
A one-trick pony—and the visual trick is much better presented in Rufus Butler Seder’s actual Scanimation series. (Picture book/novelty. 6-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-907912-23-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Trafalgar Square
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2013
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