Like many sumo matches, this awkwardly translated import is over almost before it begins. Hearing a cry for help Sumo Boy flies to the rescue, defeating a bully—“How about an open hand push . . . and an inside leg trip . . . But the winning move is the overarm throw!”—then bringing the intended victim back to the dojo for some “sumo hot pot.” Hasegawa places the grimacing, crudely drawn, loincloth-clad lad against visually bewildering backdrops of crammed city crowds and signs in Japanese. The closing pages, in which tiny figures demonstrate 36 sumo techniques with such rousing (if sometimes inscrutable) names as the “Thigh Scooping Body Drop,” and “Frontal Crush-out,” may have future manga fans lingering, but readers hoping for another crowd pleaser like David Wisniewski’s Sumo Mouse (2002) will be sadly disappointed. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-7868-3635-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2006
The diet revolution, formally reserved for adolescents and adults, takes front and center stage in a picture book that purports to be a lesson in self-esteem. When faced with an acting audition in a local play, would-be actress Hillary the cat, formerly happy with herself, looks in the mirror and finds she is too round. Goaded on by her sister, slim Felice the diet queen, Hillary suddenly adopts the strict regimen of eating dry toast, watery soup, and a bowl of lettuce while working out at all hours on the stairstepper. The motives overtake story in a well-meaning but heavy-handed message when Hillary sees the much-admired actress/singer Nina Clophoofer, who is not only round, but happy and comfortable with herself. These cartoon creatures from Caple resemble a pleasant cross between Aliki’s characters and Nancy Carlson’s, but the story is too self-conscious and unintentionally inspiring: Children who have no weight problem and who have never considered the possibility of being either too large or too small may suddenly be checking their mirrors. (Picture book. 4-7)
Pub Date: March 2, 1999
ISBN: 1-57505-261-X
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Carolrhoda
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1999
A fine counterpoint of wistful ache and be-bop sparkle informs this story about shaking the blues. A girl wakes to an urban morning, her elemental funk reflected in the lonely, sagging laundry line seen across the street from her window. “That’s such a sorrowful line./It’s droppin’ down so lowly/even pigeons pass it by.” Her bubbly sister will not let her mope and tries a little jazzy word music: “Sweet potato!/Rutabaga!/That’ll work fine!/We can play together/with the laundry line!” Her persistence pays off—it’s not long before that piece of rope has been transformed from a study in malaise to a Double-Dutch four-step workout. Davenier’s watercolors are charmingly atmospheric, perfectly suited to Millen’s spirit-raising verse; the two will work magic on any down-at-the-mouth child. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-395-87497-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1999
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