In this fifth slice-of-life story about Iris and Walter, last seen in The Sleepover (2002), our heroes are preparing for a class play where Iris will be a cricket and Walter will be a dragonfly. Iris loves to practice her lines and Walter enjoys creating the costumes with cardboard, paint, and scissors. But when rehearsals start, Walter has a little trouble remembering the words. Though Iris prompts him in rehearsal, Walter is still worried. What if he forgets his lines on the day of the play? Iris promises to help, but on the morning of the big day, Iris has a fever and has to stay home. Fittingly, she worries about her responsibility to her friend. She is deeply disappointed and still feels sad when she returns to school and has to hear all the excited reminiscences about the play, but the future holds promise. Though the stars here are Walter and Iris, and their dear friendship, Guest adds a dandy supporting cast in Grandpa, who is always there to say the right thing, and Miss Cherry, the understanding teacher with creative ideas and sensible solutions. Davenier’s swirling, lively watercolors capture Iris’s exuberance and Walter’s worrywart expression. The situation might be familiar and ordinary, but Guest has an exceptional gift for intelligently capturing all the angst and joy of stage fright and friendship for her audience. Henry and Mudge fans have some new friends in these likable pals. (Easy reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: April 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-15-216481-2
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Gulliver/Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2003
Continuing to find inspiration in the work of Virginia Lee Burton, Munro Leaf and other illustrators of the past, Long (The Little Engine That Could, 2005) offers an aw-shucks friendship tale that features a small but hardworking tractor (“putt puff puttedy chuff”) with a Little Toot–style face and a big-eared young descendant of Ferdinand the bull who gets stuck in deep, gooey mud. After the big new yellow tractor, crowds of overalls-clad locals and a red fire engine all fail to pull her out, the little tractor (who had been left behind the barn to rust after the arrival of the new tractor) comes putt-puff-puttedy-chuff-ing down the hill to entice his terrified bovine buddy successfully back to dry ground. Short on internal logic but long on creamy scenes of calf and tractor either gamboling energetically with a gaggle of McCloskey-like geese through neutral-toned fields or resting peacefully in the shade of a gnarled tree (apple, not cork), the episode will certainly draw nostalgic adults. Considering the author’s track record and influences, it may find a welcome from younger audiences too. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-399-25248-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2009
SEEN & HEARD
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.
How to raise money for a coveted poster: put your friends to work!
John, founder of the FUBU fashion line and a Shark Tank venture capitalist, offers a self-referential blueprint for financial success. Having only half of the $10 he needs for a Minka J poster, Daymond forks over $1 to buy a plain T-shirt, paints a picture of the pop star on it, sells it for $5, and uses all of his cash to buy nine more shirts. Then he recruits three friends to decorate them with his design and help sell them for an unspecified amount (from a conveniently free and empty street-fair booth) until they’re gone. The enterprising entrepreneur reimburses himself for the shirts and splits the remaining proceeds, which leaves him with enough for that poster as well as a “brand-new business book,” while his friends express other fiscal strategies: saving their share, spending it all on new art supplies, or donating part and buying a (math) book with the rest. (In a closing summation, the author also suggests investing in stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrency.) Though Miles cranks up the visual energy in her sparsely detailed illustrations by incorporating bright colors and lots of greenbacks, the actual advice feels a bit vague. Daymond is Black; most of the cast are people of color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-56727-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
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