A sly, winking acknowledgment that naughtiness is harder to root out than one might wish.
An anteater is antsy for world fame.
Arturo craves acclaim and doesn’t sit idly by, waiting for the spotlight to claim him. He works at being the “centre of attention,” acting “cheeky” and striking rude poses. (This import from Australia and New Zealand has not been Americanized.) Disregarding warnings that “if the wind changes…you’ll stick like that,” Arturo keeps it up—until the wind does change, and he turns into a statue, frozen in a ludicrous posture with a rather daft facial expression. Efforts at unsticking fail; Arturo is used for utilitarian purposes, as coat rack, Christmas tree, and scarecrow. But could fame finally be within his grasp? “Chat shows,” celebrity soirees, and news articles attest to Arturo’s notoriety. His placement atop a pedestal proves he’s famous and loved! At story’s end, though, Arturo is inexplicably released from his immobile existence, and he realizes he’d rather be himself. Of course, “himself” isn’t famous but is still naughty. There’s an obvious illustrated hint that Arturo quickly returns to his former ways, having learned little except that fame is illusory. This humorous but thin story thus forgoes what could have been a pat lesson about improving moral character; it concludes realistically and accessibly: A pesky pain in the neck is likely to remain so. Comical cartoons feature lots of white space; Arturo’s exaggerated facial features enhance the fun.
A sly, winking acknowledgment that naughtiness is harder to root out than one might wish. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-76036-087-0
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Starfish Bay
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories.
Kids know vegetables can be scary, but rarely are edible roots out to get someone. In this whimsical mock-horror tale, carrots nearly frighten the whiskers off Jasper Rabbit, an interloper at Crackenhopper Field.
Jasper loves carrots, especially those “free for the taking.” He pulls some in the morning, yanks out a few in the afternoon, and comes again at night to rip out more. Reynolds builds delicious suspense with succinct language that allows understatements to be fully exploited in Brown’s hilarious illustrations. The cartoon pictures, executed in pencil and then digitally colored, are in various shades of gray and serve as a perfectly gloomy backdrop for the vegetables’ eerie orange on each page. “Jasper couldn’t get enough carrots … / … until they started following him.” The plot intensifies as Jasper not only begins to hear the veggies nearby, but also begins to see them everywhere. Initially, young readers will wonder if this is all a product of Jasper’s imagination. Was it a few snarling carrots or just some bathing items peeking out from behind the shower curtain? The ending truly satisfies both readers and the book’s characters alike. And a lesson on greed goes down like honey instead of a forkful of spinach.
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 21, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0297-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
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