A weak tale of five brothers and sisters trying to take care of themselves while their hard-working mother gets some rest. When she wins a two-week cruise, Tillie, Trudy, Rob, Pete, and Sherman urge her to go; after all, Grandpa Marsh lives in the apartment over the garage. Initial bickering soon flares into outright rebellion when the eldest, Tillie, tries to serve salad for dinner. They decide to take turns being in charge, in descending order of age. That doesn't last long; Trudy serves fried chicken two nights running, and when Rob orders Sherman, the youngest, to put his huge dog Tip out in the yard, boy and dog run away (beneath the porch). With grown-ups never far away, the young people see little risk or need for self-reliance, and the tale ends on a distinctly minor note: Sherman tells Rob to stop ordering him around. Clifford (Harvey's Mystifying Raccoon Mix-Up, 1994, etc.) barely begins to exploit her premise for either comedy or drama, and her characters' foibles are more described than shown. Too undeveloped to satisfy. (Fiction. 9-11)
Pub Date: April 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-395-73571-8
Page Count: 95
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1995
BOOK REVIEW
In breathless, present-tense prose, O’Connor (Snail City, not reviewed, etc.) tells the tale of the chance rediscovery of thousands of over-sized figurines created more than 2,200 years ago to guard the tomb of China’s first emperor. She goes on to fill in the historical background with a portrait of the tyrannical, driven Emperor Qin Shihuang, and supplies plenty of large color photos, giving viewers a chance to contemplate the clay soldiers’ close, silent ranks, their amazing realism (each of the more than 7,000 men and horses is an individual, with unique features), and the miracle of their survival. Even though the author shows none of the site’s ongoing excavation or restoration, and despite the mistaken claim in the blurb that there are no other titles on the topic for young readers, this makes a stimulating introduction, along with Caroline Lazo’s equally fine, and still in print Terra Cotta Army of Emperor Qin (1993), to a monument rightly billed as one of the true wonders of the ancient world. (author’s note, index, bibliography) (Nonfiction. 9-11)
Pub Date: April 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-670-03152-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2002
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Watch out, Captain Underpants, there’s a new superhero on the scene. After his domineering little sister Melody persuades him to sample two gross-looking homemade cupcakes, diminutive fifth-grader Horace discovers that he can fly, and breathe fire to boot. These powers eventually wear off, but not before Horace has time to get used to the dorky purple outfit Melody whips up for him, to take an aerial tour of Blootinville, and after rescuing heartthrob Sara Willow from an oncoming tricycle, to snatch Principal Nosair from the belly of a giant, carnivorous guinea pig created by malicious science teacher Norman Dienow. Though the illustrations are relatively sparse, Gott’s pop-eyed, rubbery-looking figures capture the general sense of goofiness perfectly. Horace returns to save the world from a hypnotist peddling canned Snoodles and Cheaze (“contains over one thousand chemicals, twenty nine preservatives and six kinds of plastic . . .”), as well as to make his own special cupcakes, in Episode #2: When Second Graders Attack (ISBN: 0-525-46866-8, paper: 0-14-230118-3). Necessarily resourceful, since he never knows what temporary super-power the next cupcake will bring, this caped crusader rises hilariously to meet each challenge. Bad guys better stay away from Blootinville from now on—but you know they won’t. (Fiction. 9-11)
Pub Date: May 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-525-46763-7
Page Count: 144
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2002
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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