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THE LITTLE WARRANTY PEOPLE

Name: THE LITTLE WARRANTY PEOPLE
Author: Eduard Uspensky
ISBN: 0-679-82063-9

by Eduard Uspensky & translated by Nina Ignatowicz & illustrated by Vladimir Shpitalnik ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 2, 1994

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Ever wonder why the vacuum breaks down just when the warranty runs out? The author of Uncle Fedya, His Dog, and His Cat (1993) offers an offbeat explanation: a little person lives in each appliance to maintain it but moves out on the expiration date. Unfortunately, with the exception of a recalcitrant cuckoo who gets lost early on, these promising personalities suffer from mechanical development. Some tension is generated by the trapping efforts of Tanya, a child in the home where the warranty people are marking time; but any clever twists are unraveled without much emotion. A conflict between the warranty people and the resident mice, which might have driven the book, breaks down more often than an unreliable car. With roughly shifting viewpoints and a stalling plot, this tongue-in-cheek poke at Russian politics is one offering on which the warranty has lapsed. (Fiction. 8-10)

Pub Date: May 2, 1994

ISBN: 0-679-82063-9

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1994

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
CROCODILE GENE AND HIS FRIENDS
by Eduard Uspensky & translated by Nina Ignatowicz & illustrated by Vladimir Shpitalnik

- BOOK REVIEW
UNCLE FEDYA, HIS DOG, AND HIS CAT
by Eduard Uspensky & translated by Michael Henry Heim & illustrated by Vladimir Shpitalnik

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THE SCRAMBLED STATES OF AMERICA

by Laurie Keller & illustrated by Laurie Keller ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1998

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Imagine the states, Kansas, California, Ohio, and all the rest, as people with toothy grins, ping-pong balls for eyes, pipe cleaner limbs, and full-blown personalities. Imagine, then, that they get together at a party and decide to switch places on the map. In this amusing spoof, Kansas wakes up one morning saying, “I’m not feeling happy at all!” and starts the whole thing. Florida goes to Minnesota, California goes to Wisconsin, Nevada and Mississippi fall in love. Then the trouble starts: Alaska, who had missed company, feels claustrophobic among other states; Kansas finds his place in the middle of the ocean to be a bit too quiet; Minnesota, in Florida’s spot, forgets to pack suntan lotion; and so on. Soon the states are rushing back to their original spots with sighs of relief. Keller, in her first book pushes a silly idea, to great lengths, and will elicit laughs from all those who thought geography was boring. The states are colorful, boastful, belligerent, and charming, in collage illustrations that are full of spontaneous asides and intriguing labels. The states appear in a final gallery, with a few statistics to square off the whole funny enterprise. (Picture book. 8-10)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1998

ISBN: 0-8050-5802-8

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Henry Holt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1998

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
CLEM CLAM THE CLASS CLOWN
by Laurie Keller ; illustrated by Laurie Keller

- BOOK REVIEW
I USED TO BE A DINOSAUR
by Casey Lyall ; illustrated by Laurie Keller

- BOOK REVIEW
BEARS ARE BEST!
by Joan Holub ; illustrated by Laurie Keller

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THE SINGING ROCK & OTHER BRAND-NEW FAIRY TALES

by Nathaniel Lachenmeyer ; illustrated by Simini Blocker ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 18, 2019

Alert readers will find the implicit morals: know your audience, mostly, but also never underestimate the power of “rock”...

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The theme of persistence (for better or worse) links four tales of magic, trickery, and near disasters.

Lachenmeyer freely borrows familiar folkloric elements, subjecting them to mildly comical twists. In the nearly wordless “Hip Hop Wish,” a frog inadvertently rubs a magic lamp and finds itself saddled with an importunate genie eager to shower it with inappropriate goods and riches. In the title tale, an increasingly annoyed music-hating witch transforms a persistent minstrel into a still-warbling cow, horse, sheep, goat, pig, duck, and rock in succession—then is horrified to catch herself humming a tune. Athesius the sorcerer outwits Warthius, a rival trying to steal his spells via a parrot, by casting silly ones in Ig-pay Atin-lay in the third episode, and in the finale, a painter’s repeated efforts to create a flattering portrait of an ogre king nearly get him thrown into a dungeon…until he suddenly understands what an ogre’s idea of “flattering” might be. The narratives, dialogue, and sound effects leave plenty of elbow room in Blocker’s big, brightly colored panels for the expressive animal and human(ish) figures—most of the latter being light skinned except for the golden genie, the blue ogre, and several people of color in the “Sorcerer’s New Pet.”

Alert readers will find the implicit morals: know your audience, mostly, but also never underestimate the power of “rock” music. (Graphic short stories. 8-10)