At once familiar and slightly out of the box, these giving scenes gently suggest that even the smallest acts can inspire and...
Frank and Ladd join forces to present common opportunities for children to help others.
Ranging from quiet, solitary acts such as writing a letter to a soldier stationed abroad to publicly cheering for the class klutz’s first hit at bat, these 14 free-verse poems and Ladd’s richly textured accompanying acrylic-and-pastel spreads show how easy and rewarding extending oneself can be. In fact, the accessibility of Frank’s diction underscores the simplicity of the giving acts described. For example, “Sandwich” tenderly depicts a youngster’s lunchtime encounter with “the new kid / sitting alone / with only the words of a book / to feed her.” The speaker shares “half of my sandwich,” then notices that “though I had / only half for myself, / after I ate it / I somehow felt full.” Likewise, “No Charge” captures the contagious causality of being on the receiving end of a kind act: When a bike-shop attendant provides a quick tune-up for free, the young rider then passes on that courtesy by helping a woman load grocery bags into her car but refusing a tip. Ladd’s evocative illustrations lend a literal depth to the poems, helping young and pre-readers envision themselves in these situations even further.
At once familiar and slightly out of the box, these giving scenes gently suggest that even the smallest acts can inspire and achieve great ends. (Picture book/poetry. 5-10)Pub Date: July 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-60060-970-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Lee & Low Books
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
This story covers the few days preceding the much-anticipated Midnight Zombie Walk, when Stink and company will take to the...
An all-zombie-all-the-time zombiefest, featuring a bunch of grade-school kids, including protagonist Stink and his happy comrades.
This story covers the few days preceding the much-anticipated Midnight Zombie Walk, when Stink and company will take to the streets in the time-honored stiff-armed, stiff-legged fashion. McDonald signals her intent on page one: “Stink and Webster were playing Attack of the Knitting Needle Zombies when Fred Zombie’s eye fell off and rolled across the floor.” The farce is as broad as the Atlantic, with enough spookiness just below the surface to provide the all-important shivers. Accompanied by Reynolds’ drawings—dozens of scene-setting gems with good, creepy living dead—McDonald shapes chapters around zombie motifs: making zombie costumes, eating zombie fare at school, reading zombie books each other to reach the one-million-minutes-of-reading challenge. When the zombie walk happens, it delivers solid zombie awfulness. McDonald’s feel-good tone is deeply encouraging for readers to get up and do this for themselves because it looks like so much darned fun, while the sub-message—that reading grows “strong hearts and minds,” as well as teeth and bones—is enough of a vital interest to the story line to be taken at face value.Pub Date: March 13, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5692-8
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Best for readers who have clearly indicated they would like to take their writing efforts to the next level.
A young white girl writes and illustrates a story, which is critiqued by the narrator as it is created.
The girl begins her story by drawing a Hero. Then she thinks maybe a Heroine would be better. Then she decides both will work. She places them in “a good town, filled with good people, called our Setting.” The narrator, an unseen editor who lurks over the artist’s shoulder, tells the storyteller she needs to put in some Conflict, make the Evil Overlord scarier, and give it better action. This tongue-in-cheek way of delivering the rules of creative writing is clever, and paired with Le Huche’s earnest, childlike illustrations, it seems to be aimed at giving helpful direction to aspiring young creators (although the illustrations are not critiqued). But the question needs to be asked: do very young writers really need to know the rules of writing as determined by adults? While the story appears to be about helping young readers learn writing—there is “A Friendly List of Words Used in this Book” at the end with such words as “protagonist” and “antagonist” (glossed as “Hero and Heroine” and “Evil Overlord,” respectively)—it also has a decidedly unhelpful whiff of judgment. Rules, the text seems to say, must be followed for the story to be a Good one. Ouch.
Best for readers who have clearly indicated they would like to take their writing efforts to the next level. (Picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-2935-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
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