Two sons of a leaf-peeper tour-bus operator can’t get enough of mocking their father’s clients as they ooh and aah over autumn’s glory in the northern New England countryside. As the leaves start to turn, Jim and Andy help their dad uncover the Fred’s Fall Color Tours bus and then squire around the peepers to various classic autumn venues: the beaver pond, the old church graveyard, the fields tricked out with pumpkins and sugar maples and shagbark hickories. The peepers can’t help themselves: “Oh! How beautiful,” they gasp; the beeches bending above the gravestones are “like blessings,” they gush. The boys make moose ears behind their backs, roll their eyes, utter things like “What a ham” when a customer drapes her arm over the shoulders of a scarecrow. But these kids are far from cruel, and they’re not immune to the surroundings either. They look hard at the rafts of leaves drifting down the river and enjoy the bite in the air. By the end of the story, they sit on a rock in the evening, agog at the number of stars in the early winter sky: “Look, how beautiful!” they say, not without a trace of self-consciousness. Bunting’s (Gleam and Glow, p. 1118, etc.) assured voice runs through the story with transporting affability, and Ransome (Quilt Alphabet, p. 1119, etc.) cuts his palette loose to let autumn sing. (Picture book. 6-9)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-15-260297-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2001
A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode.
A long-running series reaches its closing chapters.
Having, as Kline notes in her warm valedictory acknowledgements, taken 30 years to get through second and third grade, Harry Spooger is overdue to move on—but not just into fourth grade, it turns out, as his family is moving to another town as soon as the school year ends. The news leaves his best friend, narrator “Dougo,” devastated…particularly as Harry doesn’t seem all that fussed about it. With series fans in mind, the author takes Harry through a sort of last-day-of-school farewell tour. From his desk he pulls a burned hot dog and other items that featured in past episodes, says goodbye to Song Lee and other classmates, and even (for the first time ever) leads Doug and readers into his house and memento-strewn room for further reminiscing. Of course, Harry isn’t as blasé about the move as he pretends, and eyes aren’t exactly dry when he departs. But hardly is he out of sight before Doug is meeting Mohammad, a new neighbor from Syria who (along with further diversifying a cast that began as mostly white but has become increasingly multiethnic over the years) will also be starting fourth grade at summer’s end, and planning a written account of his “horrible” buddy’s exploits. Finished illustrations not seen.
A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Nov. 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-451-47963-1
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The hottest fad can also be the most expensive and out of reach for children in limited financial circumstances. Jeremy, living with his Grandma, dreams of wearing the latest cool black high-tops with two white stripes. But as Grandma points out, “There’s no room for ‘want’ around here—just ‘need’ ” and what Jeremy needs and gets is a new pair of winter boots. Jeremy’s quest for new sneakers takes on more urgency when his old pair fall apart, and the only choice is the Velcro baby-blue set meant for little kids found in the school’s donation box by the guidance counselor. Even Grandma understands and together they search several thrift shops and actually find the coveted black high-tops, but they’re too small. Buying them anyway, Jeremy makes a heartfelt decision to put them to a more practical and generous use. Boelts blends themes of teasing, embarrassment and disappointment with kindness and generosity in a realistic interracial school scenario bringing affecting closure to a little boy’s effort to cope in a world filled with materialistic attractions and distractions. Muted browns/greens/blues done in watercolors, pencils and ink, and digitally arranged, add to the story’s expressive affirmation of what is really important. (Picture book. 6-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-7636-2499-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2007
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