A slice-of-life tale that delivers. Kids will eat it up.
A slice of pizza with googly eyes encourages a prospective eater to look elsewhere for a meal.
At first, the pizza slice is unsuspecting as the second-person narrator describes how to go about eating pizza: choose the right slice, sprinkle with hot-pepper flakes, add some basil. The eater (never pictured) says, “I always pick the BIGGEST,” and it dawns on the slice that it’s about to be eaten. “Now, hold on a minute! You’re planning to eat me?” the slice demands. “That is disgusting!” But it seems perfectly willing to serve up its neighbors to save itself. And, really, each slice does have something special to offer. One’s a “perfect isosceles,” one knows karate, one’s musical, one is a bookworm. It’s a diverse cast of slices, although they are united in outrage in learning their fate. But then the slices rally together in an act of pizza power and recommend that the eater choose vegetables and fruits instead. But: “Don’t eat me!” says the mushroom, “I’m a fun guy!” and “Save the trees!” says the broccoli. But it becomes a domino effect, as each vegetable becomes just another topping. Burgerman’s signature doodle art, with googly eyes on every prospective foodstuff, cheesy humor, and crusty characters, will have young readers drooling as they digest a good book.
A slice-of-life tale that delivers. Kids will eat it up. (Picture book. 3-8)Pub Date: Nov. 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-7352-2885-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
For Berkner’s fans; there are much better books about children visiting imaginative lands.
Berkner’s children’s song gets the picture-book treatment with illustrations from Garoche.
What kid hasn’t made a massive pillow fort and imagined all sorts of adventures? Well, Berkner’s premise is that there is a land where everything is made of pillows, and three lucky children get to visit there. (They appear to be siblings, perhaps a blended family: Mom and one girl are black; Dad, one boy, and one girl are white.) The illustrations transition between depictions of obvious imaginative play in a bedroom to a fantasy world and back again at the end, when the parents peek in at the three asleep. Garoche’s art consists of photos of papercut artwork arranged in dioramas with some Photoshop details. Reminiscent of Michael Garland’s work (though more pastel in color) or that of Elly McKay (though less ethereal), the illustrations are a mixed bag, with layers and hard edges juxtaposed against all the pillows. The king and queen of the song are obviously stand-ins for the parents. Children who know the tune may not sit still for a reading, while those who don’t may wonder at the repeated refrain.
For Berkner’s fans; there are much better books about children visiting imaginative lands. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-6467-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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