A bouncy, attractive counting book that features the title characters as they whittle themselves from ten to one. Nimble quatrains spell out the cats' fates: ``6 little pussy cats/nosing round a hive/One got stung/and then there were . . . 5 little pussy cats/'' and so on. Others get a fright, spy a mouse, chase a bird, and off they go. A few of the cats come upon more vibrant circumstances—one gets a shock from a rather ghoulish jack-in-the- box, another tumbles off the mantelpiece. These antics add a shiver to the proceedings without stirring up nightmares. The illustrator serves up inquisitive felines, rendered in a painterly, faux- primitive style in rich tones and distinct patterns. For all its simplicity, this is a sophisticated book, a good introduction to cats and counting, suitable for a variety of reading levels. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: June 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-575-05979-6
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Gollancz/Trafalgar
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1996
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
“Once upon a bad hair day, a prince rode up Rapunzel’s way.” This opening line sets the stage for a thoroughly silly, modernized, and thoroughly fractured fairy tale written in rhyme. When the prince calls, “throw down your hair,” Rapunzel, armed with hair dryer and computer, hears, “throw down your underwear.” Which she does—followed by dirty socks for curly locks, silky dresses for silky tresses, cantaloupe for rope, pancake batter for ladder. Get the picture? When he calls out for her braid, she pushes out her maid, who lands on the prince and they fall in love and ride off together. The off-beat collage illustrations are as kooky as the tale, fabrics obviously used for clothing, but a mix of materials for flowers and shrubs. The rhyming device for the objects lends a participatory element for kids who already know the real version. And the twist on “happily ever after” spins a reality-based meaning on the phrase “falling for you” that kids should find funny. (Picture book/fairy tale. 5-8)
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-399-23794-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2003
BOOK REVIEW
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