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
One of the watershed moments in African-American history—the defeat of James Braddock at the hands of Joe Louis—is here given an earnest picture-book treatment. Despite his lack of athletic ability, Sammy wants desperately to be a great boxer, like his hero, getting boxing lessons from his friend Ernie in exchange for help with schoolwork. However hard he tries, though, Sammy just can’t box, and his father comforts him, reminding him that he doesn’t need to box: Joe Louis has shown him that he “can be the champion at anything [he] want[s].” The high point of this offering is the big fight itself, everyone crowded around the radio in Mister Jake’s general store, the imagined fight scenes played out in soft-edged sepia frames. The main story, however, is so bent on providing Sammy and the reader with object lessons that all subtlety is lost, as Mister Jake, Sammy’s father, and even Ernie hammer home the message. Both text and oil-on-canvas-paper illustrations go for the obvious angle, making the effort as a whole worthy, but just a little too heavy-handed. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: May 1, 2004
ISBN: 1-58430-161-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Lee & Low Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2004
Give this child’s-eye view of a day at the beach with an attentive father high marks for coziness: “When your ball blows across the sand and into the ocean and starts to drift away, your daddy could say, Didn’t I tell you not to play too close to the waves? But he doesn’t. He wades out into the cold water. And he brings your ball back to the beach and plays roll and catch with you.” Alley depicts a moppet and her relaxed-looking dad (to all appearances a single parent) in informally drawn beach and domestic settings: playing together, snuggling up on the sofa and finally hugging each other goodnight. The third-person voice is a bit distancing, but it makes the togetherness less treacly, and Dad’s mix of love and competence is less insulting, to parents and children both, than Douglas Wood’s What Dads Can’t Do (2000), illus by Doug Cushman. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: May 23, 2005
ISBN: 0-618-00361-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2005
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