A roundup of ready-to-read humor from familiar sources, from the team behind Ready. . .Set. . .Read! (1990). The story section includes Amelia Bedelia pinning up a lady's hair with safety pins; Morris and Boris doing Abbott and Costello; and James Marshall's switched boxes of pizza and pet mice. There are a few gems in the poetry section, notably the works of Eve Merriam, Arnold Lobel, Dr. Seuss (``When the drops stop dropping/then the storm starts stopping''), Jack Prelutsky (slishy, sloshy spaghetti), and Maurice Sendak (his March wind blows chicken soup with rice). The remaining pieces are pleasant enough, but not outright funny. The final section is a smattering of readily available riddles, rebuses, and the like. Throughout, the strong selections point up the weakness of the majority of the material. Serviceable but uneven. (Anthology. 4-6)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-385-32119-8
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1995
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
First-grader Melinda, who lives with her mother, reluctantly says goodbye to a grandmotherly neighbor, Mrs. Wilcox, who's moving to a nursing home. Mrs. Wilcox promises Melinda a surprise in the mailbox every Monday, and her cheerful cards and letters become the eagerly anticipated focus of Melinda's week. Although there is no hint that Mrs. Wilcox is seriously ill, their correspondence is to be short-lived; before Melinda can learn her letters to write back, Mrs. Wilcox dies in her sleep. Grief hurts more than a ``sprained wrist,'' but eventually Melinda hits on a palliativewriting to Mrs. Wilcox's nursing home friend, Mrs. Mingo. Fox's first book is full of good intentions, but the story is glib, and moves awkwardly through some flashbacks and preamble before it is really launched. The pictures have an oversweetened, artificial quality, but Melinda's natural exuberance comes through on every spread. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: July 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-8028-5111-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Eerdmans
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1995
In this very brief, tongue-in-cheek Swedish import, young Will (Will Gets a Haircut, 1993) has a fine day at the beach with his motherespecially after rain drives away any witnesses and he learns how to float and paddle about. The text runs only a line or two per page beneath deceptively simple cartoons; Will's expressions and silent commentary form an amusing counterpoint to his mother's chat. Low-key, but a charmer. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: Aug. 2, 1995
ISBN: 91-29-62914-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: R&S/Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1995
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