It's a whale of a lot of fun. Though more than a fraction tamer than The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, the humor is as broad as it was in Black Hearts in Battersea and the plot as thick. Dido Twait's cockney sounds right at home along with the Nantucket twang. She's eleven years old and awakens after a nine month coma aboard the good ship Sarah Casket, a whaler that rescued her from the wreck of the English boat she'd stowed away on. Nobody's ever bounced out of a prolonged sleep with more energy. Dido deals with Captain Casket's obsession (an inverted Moby Dick fever in which a pink whale ecstatically pursues him) and stokes up Dutiful Penitence Casket, his wan and fearful daughter. The two are eventually immured on Nantucket with Dutiful's hated Aunt Tribulation who turned out to be an impostor hiding in the New World while conniving to remove King James and replace him with a Hanoverian. To this end a bird watching bomb expert from Germany has been paid to invent a huge gun. Its recoil might knock Nantucket into New York harbor. Like whale blubber, the storyline is a mess to boil down, but it's got as much robust energy as one of the happier sea chanties.
Pub Date: Aug. 5, 1966
ISBN: 0395971853
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1966
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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