A breezy 3-D ramble through the core of the Big Apple, from Battery Park to the Bronx Zoo.
Moving generally south to north, the five spreads offer clusters of skyscrapers capped by a telescoping Empire State Building that rears up to over 18 inches with a pull. Other prominent structures range from the Brooklyn and George Washington bridges to Yankee Stadium (the new one). Some newer landmarks, such as the High Line and the 9/11 Memorial, pop up among the traditional tourist stops. Along with sidelights, looks inside and descriptive captions on the backs of the cut-out buildings, explanatory labels and flaps add historical notes, identify at least a few neighborhoods and give shoutouts to New York’s food, children’s books, native music, and prominent residents of the past and present. Like the author’s Pop-Up London (2012), the geography is too creative and compressed to serve as a reliable on-the-ground tour guide, and aside from the Bronx, the “outer boroughs” are largely left to shuffle off to Buffalo. Still, this evocation of the city’s bustle as well as its general layout will put both residents and temporary guests in a New York state of mind.
A pleasing tribute to New York’s bright lights, unique sights and architectural flights. (Pop-up informational picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-7636-7162-4
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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With a little help from his audience, a young storyteller gets over a solid case of writer’s block in this engaging debut.
Despite the (sometimes creatively spelled) examples produced by all his classmates and the teacher’s assertion that “Stories are everywhere!” Ralph can’t get past putting his name at the top of his paper. One day, lying under the desk in despair, he remembers finding an inchworm in the park. That’s all he has, though, until his classmates’ questions—“Did it feel squishy?” “Did your mom let you keep it?” “Did you name it?”—open the floodgates for a rousing yarn featuring an interloping toddler, a broad comic turn and a dramatic rescue. Hanlon illustrates the episode with childlike scenes done in transparent colors, featuring friendly-looking children with big smiles and widely spaced button eyes. The narrative text is printed in standard type, but the children’s dialogue is rendered in hand-lettered printing within speech balloons. The episode is enhanced with a page of elementary writing tips and the tantalizing titles of his many subsequent stories (“When I Ate Too Much Spaghetti,” “The Scariest Hamster,” “When the Librarian Yelled Really Loud at Me,” etc.) on the back endpapers.
An engaging mix of gentle behavior modeling and inventive story ideas that may well provide just the push needed to get some budding young writers off and running. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2012
ISBN: 978-0761461807
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Amazon Children's Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 22, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2012
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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Charlie Bumpers is doomed. The one teacher he never wanted in the whole school turns out to be his fourth-grade teacher.
Charlie recalls third grade, when he accidentally hit the scariest teacher in the whole school with his sneaker. “I know all about you, Charlie Bumpers,” she says menacingly on the first day of fourth grade. Now, in addition to all the hardships of starting school, he has gotten off on the wrong foot with her. Charlie’s dry and dramatic narrative voice clearly reveals the inner life of a 9-year-old—the glass is always half empty, especially in light of a series of well-intentioned events gone awry. It’s quite a litany: “Hitting Mrs. Burke in the head with the sneaker. The messy desk. The swinging on the door. The toilet paper. And now this—the shoe on the roof.” Harley has teamed once again with illustrator Gustavson (Lost and Found, 2012) to create a real-life world in which a likable kid must face the everyday terrors of childhood: enormous bullies, looming teachers and thick gym coaches with huge pointing fingers. Into this series opener, Harley magically weaves the simple lesson that people, even teachers, can surprise you.
Readers will be waiting to see how Charlie faces his next challenge in a series that marks a lovely change of pace from the sarcasm of Wimpy Kid. (Fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-56145-732-8
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: Aug. 14, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2013
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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