A tale of funny behavior modification for the kindergarten set.
An eerie purple creature teaches a town of rude children an important lesson in this fantastical children’s book.
The kids aren’t very nice in a town dubbed Bratsville. They pick their noses, scream and shout, and misbehave in every situation—much to the chagrin of their helpless parents, who can do very little to quell their children’s ridiculous behavior. Nothing, it seems, can get the kids to be polite, conscientious members of society. The book blames sweets or smothering parents as possible sources of the brattiness, but it’s not until a mysterious, swampy purple being called the BetterNot comes to town that the children behave properly. BetterNot teaches every child that his or her behavior has consequences. For instance, Lilly Loudmouth calls people names, so BetterNot, using magical powers, makes sure that she’s transformed into a creature for doing so. Patrick Puncher has a habit of beating on his friends, and BetterNot warns him that he could end up hitting himself in the face. This continues until he expertly deals with all the problem children in town. After he finishes his mission of debratification, Bratsville is renamed Angelsville, as all the kids are now perfectly behaved. Del Vecchio (The Pearl of Anton, 2004) certainly has a grasp on how to engage parents and young readers alike. The book is part fun bedtime story and part cautionary tale and thus serves dual purposes: to delight children with rhyming prose and colorful, engaging illustrations and to dictate to them that certain behaviors aren’t acceptable in society. Such warning statements are a foundational aspect of parenting—how many children have been told not to make a face, lest it stick like that forever?—and this book offers a nice way for parents to get in on the joke while reinforcing their child’s good behavior. (After all, one never knows when BetterNot will be right around the corner.) Fong’s illustrations, meanwhile, are brightly hued and expertly drawn. This funny, thoughtful work may be very helpful for caretakers trying to curb children’s less-than-savory actions.
A tale of funny behavior modification for the kindergarten set.Pub Date: June 18, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-692-47105-0
Page Count: 36
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Aug. 12, 2015
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
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.
In Florence’s middle-grade fantasy novel, a young girl’s heart is tested in the face of an evil, spreading Darkness.
Eleven-year-old Lydia, “freckle-cheeked and round-eyed, with hair the color of pine bark and fair skin,” is struggling with the knowledge that she has reached the age to apprentice as an herbalist. Lydia is reluctant to leave her beloved, magical Mulberry Glen and her cozy Housetree in the woods—she’ll miss Garder, the Glen’s respected philosopher; her fairy guardian Pit; her human friend Livy; and even the mischievous part-elf, part-imp, part-human twins Zale and Zamilla. But the twins go missing after hearing of a soul-sapping Darkness that has swallowed a forest and is creeping into minds and engulfing entire towns. They have secretly left to find a rare fruit that, it is said, will stop the Darkness if thrown into the heart of the mountain that rises out of the lethal forest. Lydia follows, determined to find the twins before they, too, fall victim to the Darkness. During her journey, accompanied by new friends, she gradually realizes that she herself has a dangerous role to play in the quest to stop the Darkness. In this well-crafted fantasy, Florence skillfully equates the physical manifestation of Darkness with the feelings of insecurity and powerlessness that Lydia first struggles with when thinking of leaving the Glen. Such negative thoughts grow more intrusive the closer she and her friends come to the Darkness—and to Lydia’s ultimate, powerfully rendered test of character, which leads to a satisfyingly realistic, not quite happily-ever-after ending. Highlights include a delightfully haunting, reality-shifting library and a deft sprinkling of Latin throughout the text; Pit’s pet name for Lydia is mea flosculus (“my little flower”). Fine-lined ink drawings introducing each chapter add a pleasing visual element to this well-grounded fairy tale.
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781956393095
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Waxwing Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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