What does it mean when a publisher specifically instructs that a review of a celebrity-written book not appear before its publication? Nothing good—and late-night star Leno’s maiden offering for kids lives up to this promise. Leno takes a promising concept—the overachieving dad’s new “project” (in this case, a new patio with rotisserie)—and grinds it into the dirt. Jay (big-jawed even in childhood), his dad, and the family dog, Bruce, pile into the car to the Hardware Supermax, load up on supplies, and haul it home to the clucking of his thrifty mom’s tongue. When the patio is finally built, little Jay starts shaving off bits of the inaugural roast with his comb—which then melts onto the beef, at last precipitating the act that inspires the title. The tale is told at the top of the authorial lungs, with no modulation in tone whatsoever. What in a cleverer craftsman’s hands could have been a terrifically kid-centered tale about parental foibles becomes a non-stop shout; magazine-illustrator Whitehead’s accompanying pictures suit the text perfectly, matching its lack of subtlety decibel for decibel. A CD with Leno himself performing the text reveals that his reading is as tone-deaf as his writing. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: March 23, 2004
ISBN: 0-689-86767-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2004
An impending school visit by a celebrity chef sends budding cook Ollie into a tailspin. He and his classmates are supposed to bring a favorite family food for show and tell, but his family doesn’t have a clear choice—besides, his little sister Rosy doesn’t like much of anything. What to do? As in their previous two visits to Room 75, Kenah builds suspense while keeping the tone light, and Carter adds both bright notes of color and familiar home and school settings in her cartoon illustrations. Eventually, Ollie winkles favorite ingredients out of his clan, which he combines into a mac-and-cheese casserole with a face on top that draws delighted praise from the class’s renowned guest. As Ollie seems to do his kitchen work without parental assistance, a cautionary tip or two (and maybe a recipe) might not have gone amiss here, but the episode’s mouthwatering climax and resolution will guarantee smiles of contentment all around. (Easy reader. 6-7)
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-06-053561-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2007
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Appropriately bound in brown paper, this makes its profound point more directly than such like-themed tales as Marisabina...
Dedicated “to children everywhere sitting in cardboard boxes,” this elemental debut depicts a bunny with big, looping ears demonstrating to a rather thick, unseen questioner (“Are you still standing around in that box?”) that what might look like an ordinary carton is actually a race car, a mountain, a burning building, a spaceship or anything else the imagination might dream up.
Portis pairs each question and increasingly emphatic response with a playscape of Crockett Johnson–style simplicity, digitally drawn with single red and black lines against generally pale color fields.
Appropriately bound in brown paper, this makes its profound point more directly than such like-themed tales as Marisabina Russo’s Big Brown Box (2000) or Dana Kessimakis Smith’s Brave Spaceboy (2005). (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-112322-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2006
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