Familiar folktale elements are given a modern twist by the creators of Cinder-Elly (1994) and Sleepless Beauty (1996) in this original tale of a mermaid captivated by a handsome surfer. Told in slangy, rhyming vernacular, the storyline is traditional in its basic elements: when a human man falls into the sea attempting to get a glimpse of a beautiful mermaid, she helps him to shore, falls in love with him, agrees to trade her tail for legs, then wishes to be able to return to her family under the sea. But this Mer-Princess is more resourceful than the greedy troll with whom she’s made the trade anticipates; when the troll demands her voice in return for giving her back her tail, she takes swimming lessons at the Y and learns how to scuba-dive in order to visit her family. The colorful, splashy illustrations are outlined in scratchy, thin black lines, and the spreads are full of humorous asides and details in addition to the text: clams, jellyfish, seabirds, and even some aliens contribute remarks as they seem to watch the story unfold from the sides of the pages. This fish tale with well-known antecedents is refreshingly contemporary in its tone and look. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-670-03529-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2002
Energetic enough to carry younger rocketeers off the launch pad if not into a very high orbit.
The bubble-helmeted feline explains what rockets do and the role they have played in sending people (and animals) into space.
Addressing a somewhat younger audience than in previous outings (Professor Astro Cat’s Frontiers of Space, 2013, etc.), Astro Cat dispenses with all but a light shower of “factoroids” to describe how rockets work. A highly selective “History of Space Travel” follows—beginning with a crew of fruit flies sent aloft in 1947, later the dog Laika (her dismal fate left unmentioned), and the human Yuri Gagarin. Then it’s on to Apollo 11 in 1969; the space shuttles Discovery, Columbia, and Challenger (the fates of the latter two likewise elided); the promise of NASA’s next-gen Orion and the Space Launch System; and finally vague closing references to other rockets in the works for local tourism and, eventually, interstellar travel. In the illustrations the spacesuited professor, joined by a mouse and cat in similar dress, do little except float in space and point at things. Still, the art has a stylish retro look, and portraits of Sally Ride and Guion Bluford diversify an otherwise all-white, all-male astronaut corps posing heroically or riding blocky, geometric spacecraft across starry reaches.
Energetic enough to carry younger rocketeers off the launch pad if not into a very high orbit. (glossary) (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-911171-55-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Flying Eye Books
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Ginny loves reading circle, but getting there is a bit of a challenge because only half the chairs are real. Figuring out which words to read is tough, too. See, “Ginny’s eyes [play] tricks”—she’s got double vision and doesn’t realize that’s unusual. “We read it just once,” says her teacher, and, “Don’t squint.” Lyon’s simple, declarative text effortlessly puts readers into Ginny’s head, and Avril’s whimsical mixed-media illustrations give them her eyes, overlaying one image slightly off its original in a satisfyingly disorienting fashion. A vision test at school is revelatory: “Do you know,” the nurse asks gently, “that most people see only one?” This small episode, taken from the author’s own experience, is much more than bibliotherapy, even though it covers Ginny’s remedial eye patch (hence the title). In single or double vision, Ginny simply glows. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: June 22, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4169-5024-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Richard Jackson/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2010
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