Too mean-spirited to be really funny.
The drama behind an upcoming pet parade, told in epistolary style.
Simon, Andy’s cat, is writing to Baxter, Andy’s dog. Simon invites Baxter to march in the upcoming pet parade, taking Simon’s place. Baxter replies affirmatively with wriggly enthusiasm and atrocious spelling. When Simon asks Baxter what his costume will be and reminds him to be more attentive to his spelling, Baxter writes back that the costume is a secret, that “speling is…not vary fun,” and that he has given Simon the nickname of Cat Man. Simon says he doesn’t want a nickname, but Baxter persists, insensitively. While Simon is unfailingly polite in his epistolary quest to find out what Baxter’s costume is, readers may detect in the responses he receives that he is not altogether an innocent party. Nevertheless, many of those responses are noticeably ungracious. And Baxter, with his willful dismissal of Simon’s feelings, adds to the story’s pervasively subtle mean-spiritedness. Backmatter gives a “Doggie Dictionary” that translates Baxter’s ubiquitous misspellings into proper words, but as a device, his habit is more intrusive than cute, often forcing readers who are trying to master spelling themselves to sound out what should be sight words to glean meaning. Andy is White, as is his chief competitor, and his friend Noah is a child of color. Atteberry renders expressions well, but the goldfish with the big red lips and long eyelashes is tiresomely stereotypical, as is the apparently elderly snail delivering the letters.
Too mean-spirited to be really funny. (Fiction. 6-8)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4493-9
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An effective early chapter book conveyed in a slightly overdone gag.
Epistolary dispatches from the eternal canine/feline feud.
Simon the cat is angry. He had done a good job taking care of his boy, Andy, but now that Andy’s parents are divorced, a dog named Baxter has moved into Andy’s dad’s house. Simon believes that there isn’t enough room in Andy’s life for two furry friends, so he uses the power of the pen to get Baxter to move out. Inventively for the early-chapter-book format, the story is told in letters written back and forth; Simon’s are impeccably spelled on personalized stationery while Baxter’s spelling slowly improves through the letters he scrawls on scraps of paper. A few other animals make appearances—a puffy-lipped goldfish who for some reason punctuates her letter with “Blub…blub…” seems to be the only female character (cued through stereotypical use of eyelashes and red lipstick), and a mustachioed snail ferries the mail to and fro. White-appearing Andy is seen playing with both animals as a visual background to the text, as is his friend Noah (a dark-skinned child who perhaps should not be nicknamed “N Man”). Cat lovers will appreciate Simon’s prickliness while dog aficionados will likely enjoy Baxter’s obtuse enthusiasm, and all readers will learn about the time and patience it takes to overcome conflict and jealousy with someone you dislike.
An effective early chapter book conveyed in a slightly overdone gag. (Fiction. 6-8)Pub Date: May 12, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4492-2
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A spellbinding tale that will never brown or fade with time.
Soup is always the correct solution.
Evergreen, a young squirrel who lives high in a tree in Buckthorn Forest, is afraid of most things, but top of the list is thunderstorms. When her mother, who makes magical soup, asks her to take an acorn full of soup to Granny Oak, who is ill with the flu, Evergreen is afraid that she won’t be brave enough to do it. But she knows she must—and that she must be careful not to spill a drop, as “Granny Oak will need every bit of it to get better.” Setting off, the scared squirrel encounters a menagerie of adventures and forest creatures in her journey. It’s a wild, imaginative read and one that twists and turns like a forest path, with unexpected surprises along the way. Cordell is a masterful storyteller, and readers will love following Evergreen’s journey as she grows into a more confident squirrel. The artwork is the real star of the show, however; there’s a hint of Sendak in the characters’ humorous expressions and in the timeless pen-and-watercolor backgrounds that cry out to be examined in detail. Educators and caregivers will love reading this story aloud in installments, and readers will adore seeing what Evergreen encounters in her travels. A hint of future stories will tantalize readers, who will close the book eager for a new volume to devour.
A spellbinding tale that will never brown or fade with time. (Early chapter book. 6-8)Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-250-31717-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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