This is one haunted farm readers won’t want to skip.
Dolan takes her zany, anthropomorphic animals to new heights of silliness in this Halloween tale.
After a night of sleepwalking, Farmer Greg returns to find his farm now inhabited by beasts and ghouls. “Who you gonna call?” Ghost-Hunters, of course. The three pigs, in a remarkably familiar-looking vehicle, arrive in no time with their Phantom Finder 5000 to root out the paranormal. But they don’t find anything paranormal. Not at the pond, where zombie ducks wander with bloodshot eyes: “Quack! Brains!” Not in the farmhouse, where ghostly cows roam. And not in the barn, covered in green slime, where “He lives! Frankenhorse lives!” and the Mighty Donkula presides over the vampire bats, who “vant to suck your blood.” The vegetable patch similarly registers zero on the instruments. A visit to the chicken coop reveals both the diabolical plot and the reason behind it, and readers are sure to be taken by surprise—they won’t see this twist coming. While this is definitely a children’s book, Dolan adds some masterful one-liners for adult readers’ benefit that are sure to cause chuckles (one Ghost-Hunter says, “I ain’t afraid of no goat!”). Dolan’s mixed-media illustrations balance the creepy with the silly and are filled with hysterical details, visual puns, and speech bubbles, so readers are sure to find new things on repeat readings.
This is one haunted farm readers won’t want to skip. (Picture book. 5-10)Pub Date: June 28, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7636-8658-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Nosy Crow
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for...
A gentle voice and familiar pitfalls characterize this tale of a boy navigating the risky road to responsibility.
Gavin is new to his neighborhood and Carver Elementary. He likes his new friend, Richard, and has a typically contentious relationship with his older sister, Danielle. When Gavin’s desire to impress Richard sets off a disastrous chain of events, the boy struggles to evade responsibility for his actions. “After all, it isn’t his fault that Danielle’s snow globe got broken. Sure, he shouldn’t have been in her room—but then, she shouldn’t be keeping candy in her room to tempt him. Anybody would be tempted. Anybody!” opines Gavin once he learns the punishment for his crime. While Gavin has a charming Everyboy quality, and his aversion to Aunt Myrtle’s yapping little dog rings true, little about Gavin distinguishes him from other trouble-prone protagonists. He is, regrettably, forgettable. Coretta Scott King Honor winner English (Francie, 1999) is a teacher whose storytelling usually benefits from her day job. Unfortunately, the pizzazz of classroom chaos is largely absent from this series opener.
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for subsequent volumes. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: Dec. 17, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-547-97044-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A charming friendship story and great setup for future books.
Curious about the Big Wide World outside his Sasquatch community, Hugo makes a friend who is of it.
Sasquatch Hugo’s bedroom is inside a cave and possesses the charming feature of a small stream running through it that he can sail his little toy boat on. It’s cool, but he yearns to see the Big Wide World. When he asks his smart friend Gigi if a Sasquatch might become a sailor, she says it’s possible but would be difficult—the primary rule of their people is to not be seen by Humans. Then, in everyone’s favorite Hide and Go Sneak class, which is held outside, a Human appears; Hugo laughs at the sight, drawing Human attention in a taboo-breaking mistake. Shortly after, Hugo’s toy boat floats into the cave with a Human toy—soon, it’s facilitating a pen-pal–type relationship that’s derailed when Hugo confesses to being a Sasquatch and Human Boone, a budding cryptozoologist, doesn’t believe him. How Hugo and Boone resolve this misapprehension and become friends in a joint search for the Ogopogo concludes this series opener. Potter keeps the third-person narrative tightly focused on Hugo’s perspective, and the details she uses to flesh out the Sasquatch world are delightfully playful. Sala’s drawings depict a homey Sasquatch cavern community, Boone as a freckled, white boy, and Hugo as a hairily benevolent behemoth.
A charming friendship story and great setup for future books. (final art unseen) (Fantasy. 5-9)Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2859-4
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018
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