“Little Shop of Horrors” for the teddy bear set? Not at all, despite similarities: in this warmhearted tale, a tropical plant with a taste for meat goes from scary houseguest to beloved family member. Nolen (Max and Jax in Second Grade, p. 342, etc.) sketches the plot in a series of letters from young Mortimer Henryson and his parents to Mortimer’s science teacher, Mr. Lester. Having sat next to “Plantcilia” all through third grade, Mortimer begs permission to bring it home for the summer, but after it proves to be both mobile and carnivorous (the family Chihuahua vanishes), his mother is beseeching Mr. Lester to take it back. With characteristic comic extravagance, Catrow (We the Kids, p. 564, etc.) fleshes out the details in a series of frenetic scenes increasingly crowded with long, snaky tendrils, ragged leaves, and bulbous green appendages with ominously toothy rims. As the summer goes on, however, Plantzilla proves less a menace than an eager asset, as capable of playing field hockey with Mortimer as jazz for his boogying parents—even spitting out the unharmed dog and, ultimately, writing a letter of its own: “PEEEple Gooood. I wil sta widdem fro ever!” Readers, plant-lovers or otherwise, will find this vegetative visitor taking root in their affections too. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-15-202412-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Silver Whistle/Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2002
When Little Eight John's mother warns that misfortune will follow if he kicks the toad frogs, sits backwards on a chair, or counts his teeth, it only spurs him on; later, he laughs gleefully when the baby gets colic, the cow stops giving milk, and his family goes broke. Finally, after one transgression too many, terrifying Old Raw Head Bloody Bones changes the boy into a spot of jam; himself once again, he promises to mind. Wahl, who heard this story years ago ``along the back roads of West Virginia,'' retells it in simple, brief sentences that artfully evoke a country storyteller's pace and cadences. Clay's paintings, though warm and energetic, are more contrived, with characters often viewed several times in a scene. Cocky Little Eight John watches his parents' discomfiture with an exaggerated grin; disappointingly, his transformations are not shown; and the cartoony Old Raw Head is at odds with the illustrations' otherwise realistic style. An amusing but flawed rendition of this old-fashioned cautionary tale. (Folklore/Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-525-67367-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1992
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
During Valentine's week, second-grader Mattie exchanges an amusing series of gifts with a ``secret friend''—dreaded class rowdy Jeb—who is also her secret admirer; during spring vacation, she peddles pesky little brother Emmett, finds a taker- -and promptly realizes that she misses him; and, in a summer episode that links the other two, she and Jeb build a treehouse and give Emmett a disastrous haircut. There's not much subtlety here, either in the events or in Lehman's bold, cartoony b&w art, but the narrative is brisk and appealing, the plotting reasonably deft, the feelings genuinely childlike. A satisfactory early chapter book for kids not quite ready for the Haywoods. (Fiction. 6-8)
Pub Date: May 15, 1992
ISBN: 0-688-09730-8
Page Count: 48
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1992
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