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MEET STINKY MAGEE

Name: MEET STINKY MAGEE
Author: Edward Sokol
ISBN: 0-688-17416-7

by Edward Sokol & illustrated by Edward Sokol ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 31, 2000

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Artist Sokol makes an appalling writing debut with a book in which bold and colorful illustrations dude up what is meant, obviously, to be a naïvely magical text. In reality, the book achieves such a paucity of thought and meaning as to be utterly inane, disrespectful of craft, and condescending to even the youngest, most gullible of its intended readership. They are invited to meet Stinky Magee, a “funny little guy with curly orange hair, green eyes . . . and big ears that stick out really far.” Big ears, which could have been the basis for a magical metaphor or simile, make Stinky a dead ringer for his grandpa Captain Silas Hornblower Magee, basically an illustration opportunity since he’s extraneous to the story; indeed, some sophisticated youngsters may wonder why he’s mentioned at all. Stinky has a magic hobbyhorse Shnoopsie, who flies him to the secret land of Snaggamumfrey after hearing the magic words, “Be good, be fast . . . be gone!” In Snaggamumfrey wishes come true; it is ice cream that Stinky’s after, an “extra-special ice-cream sundae . . . with a bright red, really red cherry on top!” Replete, Stinky flies home, sleeps, and wakes to discover it was all just a dream. Worse than the story is the sense that the author believes that the too-cute language (“Peep, pop, tiddle-op”) will be appealing to children. Get serious. Be gone, Stinky. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: Aug. 31, 2000

ISBN: 0-688-17416-7

Page Count: 32

Publisher: HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2000

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY

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IF SOMEBODY LIVED NEXT DOOR

by Libby Hough & illustrated by Laura McGee Kvasnosky ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 1997

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Little Olivia Wendell is without neighbors, so she has learned to play alone. In her imagination, she populates the empty house next door with an inviting family and lots of lively farm animals. At story's end, a moving van appears in front of the vacant house and a girl just Olivia's age arrives at the gate between the two yards. The universal preschooler's wish for a friend is happily granted in Hough's very simple first book, although slightly older children will wonder why Olivia doesn't go to school and why no parents or siblings appear—she sleeps in a blanket in a chair at night. Kvasnosky (Mr. Chips, 1996) graces the book with her distinctive illustrations, in which boldly drawn forms are not quite filled with strong, flat color, so that every shape is enlivened by a white ``halo'' inside its outline. In the pictures, Olivia plays with a toy farm (from which her fantasies take shape) and owns a copy of an earlier book Kvasnosky illustrated, Florence Page Jaques's There Once Was a Puffin (1995). (Picture book. 3-5)

Pub Date: June 1, 1997

ISBN: 0-525-45497-7

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Dutton

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1997

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY

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THE MAGIC HILL

by A.A. Milne ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2000

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Pooh might describe this 1925 offering from Milne as a Very Small Tale, and so it is, but gentle and sweet withal. Princess Daffodil is the only daughter after six sons of the king and queen, and at her christening the Fairy Mumruffin grants her the gift of flowers, which will grow wherever she steps. When the princess begins toddling about the king’s favorite thinking place, strewing flowers everywhere, the king decides she must keep off the paths entirely. After a few years of this, the doctor pronounces that she must do what little girls do: “She must run about more. She must climb hills and roll down them. She must hope and skip and jump.” So the queen finds a solution in a small hill, where Daffodil can do all those things to her heart’s content, and where children play and pick the posies she makes there. Brown, who remembered the story from her own mother’s telling, who remembered it from her mother, has created delicate and winsome illustrations that are also precise: the various species of flowers are easily identifiable. Children will be charmed by the little doll-like faces of the characters and the excellent fairy colors, pastel-colored to jewel-toned as needed. (Picture book. 4-7)