What could have been mere instruction on the concepts of little and big becomes poetically resonant in the hands of Latimer (James Bear and the Goose Gathering, 1994, etc.) and Curry, who makes his debut. Buffalo and Snail meet on the prairie. Buffalo impresses his new companion with statistics about his size and speed, until Snail wonders if she has any worthwhile talents. She proves that bulk isn't the only measure of greatness in the animal kingdom. Her odd tricks include whorling, siphoning, retracting, and possibly causing lightning and thunder. Curry's illustrations, fresh and primitive, play tricks with perspective that sometimes make Snail look larger than her friend. The story is needlessly complicated by anthropomorphic whimsy (``Snail could speak in Clam, in Mussel, and in Limpetalso Periwinkle'') and by the inexplicable appearance of a reindeer. These intrusions threaten, but never puncture, the magic of the relationship. Definitely on the idiosyncratic side, but a refreshing gambol. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-531-09490-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orchard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1995
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Mildly amusing, but something of a one-trick pony.
In this tech-savvy parody of the contemporary classic If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, a hyperactive pet mouse named Applesauce goes off the deep end (literally) while mesmerized with his boy’s iPhone.
Like many a harried caregiver, the boy—who’s finalizing preparations for a special outing to the “wild animal amusement park” with Applesauce—gives the persistently pesky mouse his iPhone as a diversion. Big mistake! Applesauce’s glassy-eyed absorption with the device results in utter mayhem. Oblivious to the roller coaster, tempting junk food and exotic animals at the amusement park, the tap-tap-tapping mouse inadvertently frees the animals from their cages and walks off a cliff. Hitching a ride with some conveniently passing porpoises, he winds up on a “distant island.” The boy arrives to rescue Applesauce, and the pair camp overnight. With no outlets or charger for the dead phone, Applesauce undergoes brief but dramatic withdrawal symptoms, which end with a marshmallow roast. “Ann Droyd”—aka David Milgrim—adopts the original text’s conditional, “if / then” formula but doesn’t attempt its exquisitely circular structure. Cartoony illustrations employ flat blues, grays and greens contoured in black, with word bubbles for dialogue. As Applesauce and his boy stargaze, the mouse asks, “By the way, how’d we get here?”
Mildly amusing, but something of a one-trick pony. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Oct. 21, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-399-16926-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Blue Rider Press
Review Posted Online: July 28, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2014
None
Exuding her usual air of competence, Ms. Frizzle drives the magic school bus to the beach, over the sand, and into the waves to take her wisecracking class on a tour of an intertidal zone, the continental shelf, the deep sea bottom, and a coral reef. Degen's paintings feature plenty of colorful (and unobtrusively labeled) sea life. As always, the pace is breathless, the facts well chosen, the excitement of scientific study neatly evoked, and Ms. Frizzle's wardrobe equal to every extraordinary occasion. At the end, her students assemble a bulletin board chart to summarize their observations and—apparently in response to adult anxieties—Cole closes with a quiz clarifying the difference between fact and fiction in the story. Yes, it's a formula, but a winning one. (Nonfiction. 6-8)
None NonePub Date: Sept. 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-590-41430-5
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1992
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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