Working with a medical doctor, the prolific Ziefert embeds basic information on the causes and symptoms of colds, stomach- and headaches, zits, blisters, allergies, and other common maladies in a slurry of heavy-handed humor (the “purpose” of carsickness “is to spread vomit all over the back seat of the car, so that parents can learn a lesson about long, boring car rides!”) and lame versified asides: “I have a little plantar wart / That goes everywhere with me. / It’s quite happy on my foot / But I think it’s UGH-a-lee!” This casual tone, reflected in the page design and Haley’s simple cartoon illustrations, may be reassuring—as is the repeated message that most illness runs an “expectable course” and goes away on its own—but even younger readers will find the jocularity forced, and would likely appreciate a glossary for unexplained terms that are dropped into the text, like “plantar” or “dander,” rather than the closing list of medical specialties. Make an appointment with Margaret O. Hyde’s Disease Book (1997) instead. (Nonfiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2004
ISBN: 1-59354-057-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Blue Apple
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2004
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A family gathers to remember one of their own: a brother, an uncle, a mate, a son. Uncle Ron has died of AIDS (obviously, though it is never spelled out), and his mother, brother and sister-in-law, niece and nephew, and companion are sewing a panel for the great national memorial quilt. Lauren, the niece, narrates as the assembled recall Ron fondly while they pick and choose various items to sew on the panel. The sting of his death is particularly acute for Lauren; her uncle treated her as an adult, but knew how to throw his great protective arms around her—he was her teacher and her friend. Heartache a mile wide runs through this story, named in Lauren, hinted at in the brother, forceful in an old companion, and most apparent in Lauren’s grandmother, with clues that she will have to suffer alone (“Grandpa hadn’t come after Uncle Ron’s memorial service either,” and “ ‘Grandpa says he doesn’t know how to sew,’ “). The ending—the somber mood dissolves as everyone dances—feels contrived, but that doesn’t negate the value of this book, which allows readers to explore, as they so choose or not, related issues. In his first picture book, Hills’s soft-focus artwork serves mostly as a buffer to all the sharp emotions of the text. (Picture book. 7-9)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-689-81592-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1998
A well-intentioned description of life before birth. The illustrations make use of photographs (including ultrasound) and artist’s drawings, often in the same image, and these are well used to clarify the text. How babies grow and develop inside the womb is both described and illustrated, and while the tone is one of forced cheer, the information is sound. Also offered are quite silly exercises for children to experience what life in the womb might be like, such as listening to a dishwasher to experience the sounds a baby hears inside its mother’s body, or being held under a towel or blanket by an adult and wiggling about. The getting-together of sperm and egg is lightly passed over, as is the actual process of birth. But children may be mesmerized by the drawings of the growing child inside the mother, and what activities predate their birth dates. Not an essential purchase, but adequate as an addition to the collection. (Picture book/nonfiction. 4-8)
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2000
ISBN: 1-894379-01-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Firefly
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2000
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