A humorous story with over-the-top morals, uneven rhyme schemes, and comic illustrations.
A magical creature punishes rampaging students in this third installment of a picture book series.
Classrooms are a fantastic place to learn—unless they’re in Brat School. There, Fong (BetterNot! And the Tale of Brat Sports, 2016, etc.) depicts a teacher hiding behind his desk and biting his nails, the word HELP! written across the chalkboard, while his students run amok. When the principal warns the pupils they better change their ways or BetterNot will arrive, they tie a rocket to his feet and send him soaring. Unsurprisingly, the threatened BetterNot, resembling a genie crossed with a wraith, appears in a purple fog to set the kids on the right track. For each appropriately named child, there’s a matching punishment. Cass Clown is stuck in clown makeup in a painting like Munch’s The Scream while Ira is transported to Mars for interrupting before the teacher explains the red planet has no air. Some young readers will find BetterNot’s punishments appropriate while others will likely wonder if poor Ira died before learning his lesson or if Andy Disbeliever survived the aquarium tank he’d doubted was wet. Though Del Vecchio’s (BetterNot! And the Tale of Brat Sports, 2016, etc.) text rhymes, the meter is all over the place. Fong’s amusing images showcase BetterNot’s whimsical acts and dark sense of justice while showing a diverse cast of misbehavers and teachers.
A humorous story with over-the-top morals, uneven rhyme schemes, and comic illustrations.Pub Date: Aug. 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-692-93150-9
Page Count: 36
Publisher: BetterNot Enterprises
Review Posted Online: Dec. 1, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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