Following the success of Taro Gomi’s Everyone Poops (1993, not reviewed), this is a similarly direct picture book from Japan, and more crudely done. Laughing at two children who think he’s wearing a bra, a hefty man explains that it’s only a belt over a tank top, then launches into a brief, patchy question-and-answer that covers the physical development of breasts (in women), nursing—“When a baby grabs hold of the breast and sucks on the nipple (glug glug glug), milk flows from it”—and why most people don’t remember much of their babyhood. The two-color illustrations depict a series of mostly bare-chested men, women, and children, drawn with thick black lines and filled with a garish orange. Enlighten curious children by sharing relevant passages from such guides as Robie Harris’s It’s Perfectly Normal (1994) instead. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-916291-88-X
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Kane Miller
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1999
Tennis pro, Vietnam vet, and intelligence operative Brad Smith, who first served in Dropshot (1990), quits an irritating job in Texas to head for Montana, where his unusual skills are needed to open a new tennis resort and locate a murderous nearby secret agent. Well, whom else would you call to clean out the spies plaguing a mysterious Air Force lab just a backhand away from a troubled tennis camp? The debt-ridden sports resort, just bought by Smith's old tennis and spying pal Ted Treacher, provides the perfect cover for Smith—the only tennis-playing spy in America capable of recognizing his old archenemy Sylvester, the Soviet spy responsible for the death of Smith's late Yugoslavian tennis- playing wife. Sylvester, operating with a completely new face fresh from the plastic surgeon, is in Big Sky country to snatch a bit of strategic-defense technology from the research lab whose powerful secret electromagnetic pulses have been giving the local children leukemia. Also neighboring the resort is a secret toxic- waste dump owned by a beautiful but ruthless capitalist hussy who wants to close down the country club so she can get her toxic wastes back. Smith has to sort out all these secrets while cleaning up the financial and managerial mess his chum has made of what should be a fabulous destination for rich tennis players. Sylvester shoots at him, a sadistic deputy shoots at him, and Ivan Lendl shoots at him. Bodies pop out of the golf course. Credibility crushed in straight sets 6-2, 6-0, 6-1.
Pub Date: June 20, 1991
ISBN: 0-312-85143-X
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1991
Greenstein (Mrs. Rose’s Garden, 1996, etc.) counts backwards through ten pastoral scenes in this bedtime read. Sequentially, each page presents an image framed in rich cobalt blue—ten houses, five fluffy white clouds, three foxes—the sum total of which is a cozy little neighborhood where, nestled safely under a quilt comprised of the same images, a little dreamer lies. The text is clean yet descriptive; readers, just for a little taste, will want to reach out and pluck one of the “Four wet peaches, ripe on stems.” With the inevitable gait toward the number one that is part of the countdown structure, this quiet book will lull sleepy children into restful slumber. The folkloric paintings in muted pastels, saved from sentiment by scratched outlines and serene composition, have a rustic appeal. (Picture book. 3-7)
Pub Date: March 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-439-06302-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2000
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
