A very loving book, a tribute really, to the teachers of the world and beyond them to all people who nurture children. “At the end of the summer, Mr. Merrick, the principal, walks down the hall to Mrs. Spitzer’s room and gives her a packet of seeds.” The end of summer? wonders the alert reader. Well yes, for this is a metaphorical garden, and as Mrs. Spitzer plants, water, weeds, and tends each seedling, she delights in their individuality: tall and thin, bushy and wide-spreading, quick to grow or slow, showy or reticent. Tusa picks up the metaphor with characteristic ingenuity and charm, depicting a gray-haired but young-looking woman, comfortably dressed, leaving a well-stocked kindergarten classroom to tend a swelling garden of flowers and vegetables, each sporting eyes, a smiling mouth, and a look of eager interest. Ultimately the season comes to a close, but the plants keep on growing, now beyond the care of Mrs. Spitzer. Pattou’s language is simple but artful, keeping mawkishness at bay, while conveying a deep appreciation of the fine art of teaching. Lucky the reader, of any age, who had a Mrs. Spitzer. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: April 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-15-201978-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2001
In his third beginning reader about Otto the robot, Milgrim (See Otto, 2002, etc.) introduces another new friend for Otto, a little mouse named Pip. The simple plot involves a large balloon that Otto kindly shares with Pip after the mouse has a rather funny pointing attack. (Pip seems to be in that I-point-and-I-want-it phase common with one-year-olds.) The big purple balloon is large enough to carry Pip up and away over the clouds, until Pip runs into Zee the bee. (“Oops, there goes Pip.”) Otto flies a plane up to rescue Pip (“Hurry, Otto, Hurry”), but they crash (and splash) in front of some hippos with another big balloon, and the story ends as it begins, with a droll “See Pip point.” Milgrim again succeeds in the difficult challenge of creating a real, funny story with just a few simple words. His illustrations utilize lots of motion and basic geometric shapes with heavy black outlines, all against pastel backgrounds with text set in an extra-large typeface. Emergent readers will like the humor in little Pip’s pointed requests, and more engaging adventures for Otto and Pip will be welcome additions to the limited selection of funny stories for children just beginning to read. (Easy reader. 5-7)
Pub Date: March 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-689-85116-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2003
Floyd and Denise update “The Tortoise and the Hare” for primary readers, captioning each soft-focus, semi-rural scene with a short, simple sentence or two. Rabbit proposes running to school, while his friend Turtle takes the bus: no contest at first, as the bus makes stop after deliberate stop, but because Rabbit pauses at a pushcart for a snack, a fresh-looking Turtle greets his panting, disheveled friend on the school steps. There is no explicit moral, but children will get the point—and go on to enjoy Margery Cuyler’s longer and wilder Road Signs: A Harey Race with a Tortoise (p. 957). (Easy reader. 5-7)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-15-202679-7
Page Count: 20
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2000
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