by Jean-Vincent Sénac ; illustrated by Jean-Vincent Sénac ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2013
Minimalist silliness that may be more art than substance.
This book might as well be titled How Not to Draw a Chicken.
The cover, which substitutes “a Chicken” for a crossed-out “Animals,” gives fair warning of the strangeness inside. Beginning like a traditional how-to book, the handwritten instructions become increasingly bizarre—almost absent-minded. In a series of line drawings, a beak is drawn and joined to a pair of legs, but the body is forgotten; the beak-on-legs creation then runs away while the rest of the chicken body is drawn. The body, neck and wings are completed in a haphazard fashion, and although the beak on legs returns, it is never joined to the rest of the body. Another chicken (a whole one) runs up to observe, even as the narrative instructs readers to draw an egg and add eyes and legs to it. Finally, after a few false starts, a “cockerel” (this is a British import) is drawn correctly. The attractive, square, flip-book format belies the surreal execution of the concept, but it’s possible to see how the deliberately incompetent drawings might inspire creative children to use the elements—beak, legs, feet, wings, eyes, cockerel’s crest (“it’s a bit like a floppy crown or a glove with six fingers”)—to create their own silly animals.
Minimalist silliness that may be more art than substance. (Picture book. 5-12)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-84976-068-3
Page Count: 72
Publisher: Tate/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2013
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by Craig Robinson & Adam Mansbach ; illustrated by Keith Knight ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 28, 2017
A fast and funny alternative to the Wimpy Kid.
Black sixth-grader Jake Liston can only play one song on the piano. He can’t read music very well, and he can’t improvise. So how did Jake get accepted to the Music and Art Academy? He faked it.
Alongside an eclectic group of academy classmates, and with advice from his best friend, Jake tries to fit in at a school where things like garbage sculpting and writing art reviews of bird poop splatter are the norm. All is well until Jake discovers that the end-of-the-semester talent show is only two weeks away, and Jake is short one very important thing…talent. Or is he? It’s up to Jake to either find the talent that lies within or embarrass himself in front of the entire school. Light and humorous, with Knight’s illustrations adding to the fun, Jake’s story will likely appeal to many middle-grade readers, especially those who might otherwise be reluctant to pick up a book. While the artsy antics may be over-the-top at times, this is a story about something that most preteens can relate to: the struggle to find your authentic self. And in a world filled with books about wanting to fit in with the athletically gifted supercliques, this novel unabashedly celebrates the artsy crowd in all of its quirky, creative glory.
A fast and funny alternative to the Wimpy Kid. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: March 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-553-52351-5
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2016
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by Megan McDonald & illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 13, 2012
This story covers the few days preceding the much-anticipated Midnight Zombie Walk, when Stink and company will take to the...
An all-zombie-all-the-time zombiefest, featuring a bunch of grade-school kids, including protagonist Stink and his happy comrades.
This story covers the few days preceding the much-anticipated Midnight Zombie Walk, when Stink and company will take to the streets in the time-honored stiff-armed, stiff-legged fashion. McDonald signals her intent on page one: “Stink and Webster were playing Attack of the Knitting Needle Zombies when Fred Zombie’s eye fell off and rolled across the floor.” The farce is as broad as the Atlantic, with enough spookiness just below the surface to provide the all-important shivers. Accompanied by Reynolds’ drawings—dozens of scene-setting gems with good, creepy living dead—McDonald shapes chapters around zombie motifs: making zombie costumes, eating zombie fare at school, reading zombie books each other to reach the one-million-minutes-of-reading challenge. When the zombie walk happens, it delivers solid zombie awfulness. McDonald’s feel-good tone is deeply encouraging for readers to get up and do this for themselves because it looks like so much darned fun, while the sub-message—that reading grows “strong hearts and minds,” as well as teeth and bones—is enough of a vital interest to the story line to be taken at face value.Pub Date: March 13, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5692-8
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
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by Megan McDonald ; illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds
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