In this debut children’s picture book, American and Scottish teachers trade classes and find that the English language isn’t the same everywhere—and hilarious misunderstandings ensue.
Author Warmouth, a Seattle teacher who switched classrooms with a teacher in Edinburgh, Scotland, under a Fulbright exchange program, here presents two rhyming books in one. First, she tells the story of an American teacher, Miss Cue, who runs into unexpected problems when she takes over Miss Queue’s class in Scotland: “Let’s start out with spelling—so easy you’ll pass! / Please take out your notebooks and erasers dear class.” The students are mystified until one suggests that she means them to take out their “jotters and rubbers,” and Miss Cue is soon alarmed when they apparently misspell every word on the test; the illustration shows one pupil’s paper with words such as “colour,” “centre,” “practise” and “grey” crossed out and “corrected.” The cartoony art clarifies the situations throughout, and some mix-ups will make children snicker: “May I wash in the toilet?” Thomas asked with a twinkle. / ‘Heavens, no!’ Miss Cue squealed. ‘Toilets are only for tinkle!’ ” Adults, however, may squirm at the bathroom humor and, in spots, at the irregular rhythm and forced rhyme. But when the Scottish pupils take over, the rhyme snaps to attention: “The trunk is the boot, while a boot is a welly. / A wallet’s a purse and a TV’s a telly. / Now really, Miss Cue! Enough of this blether! / It’s time you learn Scottish. We’ll do it together!” The story then switches to Miss Queue’s class in Seattle—and the page numbers start over from 1. The reader, now armed with definitions from the first “book” (including the fact that diapers are called “nappies” in Scotland), can understand Miss Queue’s dilemmas. “John let loose a yawn and asked for a nappy. / The thought of him skipping the loo made Miss Queue quite unhappy! / Politely she said, ‘This school hasn’t a shower. / Please go to the toilet before messing your trousers.’ ” Again, her students come to the rescue: “Please just say bathroom—not toilet or loo.” Younger elementary school students will enjoy this book’s mostly clever wordplay while broadening their worldview.
Pub Date: June 7, 2013
ISBN: 978-1479210459
Page Count: 66
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The charming story of a brave child’s decision to make her life better.
An exuberant, cotton-candy pink introduction to hearing loss and cochlear implants for ages 5 and up.
Little Almigal’s hearing loss doesn’t get much better with hearing aids. While Ali’s friend Penelope, whose hearing aids work for her, uses both her voice and signs to communicate, Almigal only knows a word or two of sign language, so she’s frustrated at missing out on the sounds in her world. She declares that she needs “to hear every single sound in the whole entire universe!”—especially her parents saying “We love you Almigal” when she’s in bed and not wearing her hearing aids. Her doctor suggests cochlear implants to improve her hearing, and Almigal is all for it. The book gently covers Almigal’s trip to the hospital for the operation and the importance of handling the implants carefully, as displayed in episodes where Almigal fails to treat the implants properly, thus learning how important that care can be. The implants successfully help Almigal hear all the things she’d been missing. Although the story skips the controversy surrounding cochlear implants and their place in the deaf community, the cheerful inclusiveness will be a welcome introduction for children. Kupfer—whose own daughter, Ali, was diagnosed with profound hearing loss at 10 months of age—celebrates uniqueness, while the delightful, full-page illustrations show the lively heroine and her friends and family enjoying their differences. Almigal considers herself to be the luckiest girl in the world. “Do you want to know why?” she asks. “Because I have so many friends and each one is different.”
The charming story of a brave child’s decision to make her life better.Pub Date: April 16, 2012
ISBN: 978-0983829409
Page Count: 32
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Nov. 6, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A sci-fi novel that soars along with a teenage heroine whose imperfections help make her believable and endearing.
A 17-year-old pilot with a history of crashing her craft holds a planet’s fate in her hands when a human settlement on Mars runs low on food.
Flight-obsessed Jessamyn Jaarda faces the biggest mission of her life in the fourth YA sci-fi novel from Swanson (Unfurl, 2012, etc.). Fired from pilot training for crashing one craft and praised for doing the same to another, Jess inspires unpredictable reactions in people. Maybe that’s because Jess lives, as she flies, by pure instinct, and no one knows whether that trait will enable her to save her planet when, because of potential starvation for a human settlement on Mars, she must fly to Earth on a food raid. Along with her brother, however, the red-haired teenager has the courage to attempt the mission and stick with it when it goes terribly wrong. Swanson paces this story beautifully, weaving exposition tightly into the plot as disaster interrupts everyday routines. Despite the strangeness of the Martian environment, the novel quickly establishes the humanity of Jess and other characters, as when Jess tries and fails to help her brother resist a bout of claustrophobia or when she first locks eyes with her planet’s only dog and feels something sweep through her: “A something that reminded her of taking her craft toward breaking day or of watching Phobos as the swift moon zipped across the night sky. The dog was...wondrous.” At first, Jess sees everything through the lens of her obsession with flight, but she becomes far too multifaceted, distractible and passionate to be mistaken for an archetype. Watching her grow and struggle to survive makes this book hard to put down.
A sci-fi novel that soars along with a teenage heroine whose imperfections help make her believable and endearing.Pub Date: July 26, 2012
ISBN: 978-0983562160
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Williams Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 26, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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