When Papa takes the cut sandalwood into town, Lizzie, Mama and the baby are all alone in their little house in the bush. Lizzie is always playing and pretending; Mama calls it Lizzie nonsense, but her imagination helps lighten the daily chores and hard work. While Mama tends the garden, she picks flowers and becomes a bride; as she helps Mama prepare the usual turnips for dinner, they become peaches and cream; as they mend clothes, Lizzie pretends to make a party dress with buttons and bows. Mama even joins the playfulness when they dress in their best on Sunday and walk along the track and back, pretending they’ve been to church. The beautiful painterly, watercolor illustrations are a departure from Ormerod’s earlier cuddly style. The earth-hued wispy and airy paintings affectionately embellish Lizzy’s nonsense, conveying a warmhearted snippet of time when a family bond overcame the hardships of Australian pioneer life to make a home in an untamed land. Based on anecdotes from the author’s own family history. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-618-57493-X
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2005
In a new adventure for Gus and Grandpa, the author-illustrator duo (Gus and Grandpa and the Two-Wheeled Bike, 1999, etc.) takes readers along as Gus prepares for second-grade show-and-tell, which promises to be a far cry from his fun presentations last year, when he could bring whatever he wished. This year, the teacher has sent home a list of topics. For the first topic, Mom and Dad offer suggestions, but Gus rejects their ideas only to see other kids using them come presentation time—and Ryan Mason outshining everyone. Grandpa’s suggestion of a balloon for solids, liquids, and gases, the second topic, sounds all right, till Gus gets to school: a bunch of kids have the same idea, and “almost everyone else had rocks,” except for Ryan Mason, of course, who made a gas using vinegar and baking soda to inflate a balloon. Grandpa knows a lot of Colorado history, the third topic, but Gus can’t take Grandpa’s crackly old photographs to school . . . or can he? His show-and-tell Grandpa knocks the socks off Ryan’s next presentation and restores Gus’s faith in life’s ultimate fairness. Stock’s watercolor illustrations complement and separate blocks of beginning-to-read text, doing everything they should do in a book for this readership. Together, words and pictures are an enjoyable take on an age-appropriate issue. Gus and Grandpa are a great intergenerational team; they’re lucky to have each other—and readers are lucky to have them. (Fiction. 6-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2000
ISBN: 0-374-32819-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Two mischievous pigs, a timid baby-sitter, and an iguana on the loose make for merry mayhem in this lively tale. Geraldine conspires with her younger sibling Willy to oust their new baby-sitter, the bespectacled Mrs. Duffy. Clad in a suitably mousy-gray sweater, she seems easy pickings to the troublesome duo. Readers will gleefully recognize the subversive tactics employed by the pair: tears, tantrums, hiding in a closet, and a staunch refusal to bathe. However, this classic repertoire of antics leaves their sitter unruffled. Undeterred, Geraldine hatches a plan that involves Jerome, their pet iguana. At first, success seems imminent as Mrs. Duffy (who likes to talk in triplicate) gives a satisfyingly alarmed response (“Oh, dear, dear, dear!”) to the sight of Jerome splashing in the tub along with Geraldine and Willy. Things quickly take a downturn as Jerome makes his escape. Here’s where the indomitable Mrs. Duffy shines: scaling tables to rescue the fugitive lizard from its perch atop the bookcase, earning the respect and admiration of the children (and readers). Keller’s (Jacob’s Tree, 1999, etc.) cheeky, colorful drawings are an impish counterpart to the comical tale. Vibrant watercolors depicting the dripping-wet siblings rushing after Jerome wearing nothing but their birthday suits are hilarious, as are the many illustrations that slyly incorporate the elusive Jerome into the pictures. This is sure to strike a responsive chord in readers and their weary baby-sitters alike. As Mrs. Duffy would say, “Yes, yes, yes.” (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 31, 2000
ISBN: 0-688-16887-6
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2000
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