No one believes in magic, right? What is Ibby to think, then, when her cousin Francis shrinks to the size of a mouse and Cousin Alex levitates out the window and out of sight? There is more to solve than how to return Francis to normal size and get Alex safely home again, because with five more tricks in the beginner’s magic kit and her daring cousins determined to do them all, Ibby is going in all directions at once to help, until a bigger mystery arises. Where is her Uncle Godfrey, a professional magician who has been missing for years, a mystery that will require all their focus to solve? Readers will be carried away by the scrim of danger in Dyer’s fast-paced text and will relate to the likable characters who are as real as their own crazy acquaintances. The line drawings are perfectly pitched to characterization and events, capturing the characters mid-action and the absolute hilarity that is involved. Just right for a fun family read-aloud with fast adventure and a familiar familial world, this ebullient adventure will have readers laughing out loud while working out the mystery for themselves. (Fiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-545-03209-4
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Chicken House/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2007
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Layton’s zany alien family comes to Earth in search of humans, but with only guidebook descriptions of what people look like, it’s easy to make mistakes—especially when their flying saucer lands at the zoo! “They don’t have tails and they mostly stand on two feet,” reads the father, effectively ruling out kangaroos and tigers as potential people. The smallest alien is anxious to snap a picture of penguins, but it turns out they aren’t human—people don’t have wings. After searching the “entire planet” (that is, within the confines of the zoo walls), the aliens finally do find a creature to match their guidebook’s description perfectly, and to make Darwin smile. The goofy illustrations deploy a childlike sense of fun; the aliens are pleasant creatures with round patchwork bodies and eyes on stalks, and the gregarious zoo animals will ring true for the animal cracker set. (Picture book. 3-7)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-8037-2381-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Pooh might describe this 1925 offering from Milne as a Very Small Tale, and so it is, but gentle and sweet withal. Princess Daffodil is the only daughter after six sons of the king and queen, and at her christening the Fairy Mumruffin grants her the gift of flowers, which will grow wherever she steps. When the princess begins toddling about the king’s favorite thinking place, strewing flowers everywhere, the king decides she must keep off the paths entirely. After a few years of this, the doctor pronounces that she must do what little girls do: “She must run about more. She must climb hills and roll down them. She must hope and skip and jump.” So the queen finds a solution in a small hill, where Daffodil can do all those things to her heart’s content, and where children play and pick the posies she makes there. Brown, who remembered the story from her own mother’s telling, who remembered it from her mother, has created delicate and winsome illustrations that are also precise: the various species of flowers are easily identifiable. Children will be charmed by the little doll-like faces of the characters and the excellent fairy colors, pastel-colored to jewel-toned as needed. (Picture book. 4-7)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-525-46147-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2024 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.
bookshelf