An artistically striking but enigmatic tale about ice cream.
Assorted schoolchildren reveal their favorite ice cream flavors in this picture book.
Mr. Chris, whose body consists of a tentacled teal torso, appears in his classroom: a plaid fuchsia-and-orange collage background framed with digital snowflakes. Nothing indicates recognizable physical reality. “WHAT KIND OF ICE CREAM DO YOU LIKE? I KNOW YOU HAVE A FAVORITE, DON’T YOU, MIKE?” Mr. Chris screams at a student. What follows is a psychedelic listing of ice creams, recited by a group of students. Though the structure of Fudgewilli’s text gestures toward the couplet, the rhymes are always slightly off: “chocolate/apocalypse,” “vanilly/gorilla,” “cookie dough/tootsie roll.” Each student’s physical form surprises; “mike” is a gremlinlike, multicolored child whose mirror images multiply around a photograph of mysteriously green chocolate ice cream. And “brittany robinson” is a creature with small bird feet drawn on a scrap of paper. Another child, “gary,” is a winged toe. The frightful faces are mostly unnerving but inoffensive, with the startling exception of “steven,” a humanoid character whose favorite ice cream is “water-otter-otter-melon” and whose eyeless pink face stares through a brown mask with large white lips. It certainly looks like blackface—though who the joke is on is unclear in this context-free, Bosch-like assembly of ghastly schoolkids. The light inanity of the text becomes intriguing when set inside the nightmarish realm of the convulsing, uncredited collages; hallucinogenic font changes; and intensifying color contrasts. Still, the story’s purpose remains inscrutable.
An artistically striking but enigmatic tale about ice cream.Pub Date: Feb. 25, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-73422-082-7
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Srfprty
Review Posted Online: June 4, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An uncomplicated opener, with some funny bits and a clear but not heavy agenda.
Hank Zipzer, poster boy for dyslexic middle graders everywhere, stars in a new prequel series highlighting second-grade trials and triumphs.
Hank’s hopes of playing Aqua Fly, a comic-book character, in the upcoming class play founder when, despite plenty of coaching and preparation, he freezes up during tryouts. He is not particularly comforted when his sympathetic teacher adds a nonspeaking role as a bookmark to the play just for him. Following the pattern laid down in his previous appearances as an older child, he gets plenty of help and support from understanding friends (including Ashley Wong, a new apartment-house neighbor). He even manages to turn lemons into lemonade with a quick bit of improv when Nick “the Tick” McKelty, the sneering classmate who took his preferred role, blanks on his lines during the performance. As the aforementioned bully not only chokes in the clutch and gets a demeaning nickname, but is fat, boastful and eats like a pig, the authors’ sensitivity is rather one-sided. Still, Hank has a winning way of bouncing back from adversity, and like the frequent black-and-white line-and-wash drawings, the typeface is designed with easy legibility in mind.
An uncomplicated opener, with some funny bits and a clear but not heavy agenda. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-448-48239-2
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
When Bibi, her first and favorite babysitter, moves away, it takes all of August for 8-year-old Eleanor to get beyond her sense of loss and get used to a new caretaker. Her parents grieve, too; her mother even takes some time off work. But, as is inevitable in a two-income family, eventually a new sitter appears. Natalie is sensible and understanding. They find new activities to do together, including setting up a lemonade stand outside Eleanor’s Brooklyn apartment building, waiting for Val, the mail carrier, and taking pictures of flowers with Natalie’s camera. Gradually Eleanor adjusts, September comes, her new teacher writes a welcoming letter, her best friend returns from summer vacation and third grade starts smoothly. Best of all, Val brings a loving letter from Bibi in Florida. While the story is relatively lengthy, each chapter is a self-contained episode, written simply and presented in short lines, accessible to those still struggling with the printed word. Cordell’s gray-scale line drawings reflect the action and help break up the text on almost every page. This first novel is a promising debut. Eleanor’s concerns, not only about her babysitter, but also about playmates, friends and a new school year will be familiar to readers, who will look forward to hearing more about her life. (Fiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: March 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-8109-8424-0
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Feb. 10, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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