by Josh Funk ; illustrated by Michael Slack ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 30, 2016
Prehistoric pirates are always worth a play, as is the peaceable theme, but such amateurish writing merits only the old...
A small dinosaur earns the respect of a scaly crew of dino-pirates with a clever bit of conflict resolution.
Slack’s pictures are busy with glowering, crocodile-toothed dinos of diverse hue in full piratical regalia, and it’s a good thing, as they add much-needed wind to the sails of Funk’s lubberly, exclamation-mark–laden verse: “With lots to learn, / I’ve got to earn / The crew’s respect and trust,” the would-be swabbie confides. “I’ll rise in rank or / Walk the plank… / I hope I can adjust!” Frantic efforts to do any shipboard task competently fail—sometimes in ways that serve meter and rhyme over actual sense: “I scrub and brush in such a rush / She throws me overboard!” Still, when half of a torn treasure map leads to an island dust-up with a rival crew of pirasaurs clutching the other half, a suggestion to share map and loot makes his “dream to join the team” come true at last: “This crew and I are linked. / With gems, doubloons, and silver spoons / We’ll never go extinct!”
Prehistoric pirates are always worth a play, as is the peaceable theme, but such amateurish writing merits only the old heave-ho. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-75049-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2016
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by Adam Wallace ; illustrated by Andy Elkerton ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 3, 2021
A brisk if bland offering for series fans, but cleverer metafictive romps abound.
The titular cookie runs off the page at a bookstore storytime, pursued by young listeners and literary characters.
Following on 13 previous How To Catch… escapades, Wallace supplies sometimes-tortured doggerel and Elkerton, a set of helter-skelter cartoon scenes. Here the insouciant narrator scampers through aisles, avoiding a series of elaborate snares set by the racially diverse young storytime audience with help from some classic figures: “Alice and her mad-hat friends, / as a gift for my unbirthday, / helped guide me through the walls of shelves— / now I’m bound to find my way.” The literary helpers don’t look like their conventional or Disney counterparts in the illustrations, but all are clearly identified by at least a broad hint or visual cue, like the unnamed “wizard” who swoops in on a broom to knock over a tower labeled “Frogwarts.” Along with playing a bit fast and loose with details (“Perhaps the boy with the magic beans / saved me with his cow…”) the author discards his original’s lip-smacking climax to have the errant snack circling back at last to his book for a comfier sort of happily-ever-after.
A brisk if bland offering for series fans, but cleverer metafictive romps abound. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7282-0935-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
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by Alice Walstead ; illustrated by Andy Elkerton
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by Britta Drehsen & illustrated by Sara Ball & translated by Laura Lindgren ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2011
Sturdy split pages allow readers to create their own inventive combinations from among a handful of prehistoric critters. Hard on the heels of Flip-O-Saurus (2010) drops this companion gallery, printed on durable boards and offering opportunities to mix and match body thirds of eight prehistoric mammals, plus a fish and a bird, to create such portmanteau creatures as a “Gas-Lo-Therium,” or a “Mega-Tor-Don.” The “Mam-Nyc-Nia” places the head of a mammoth next to the wings and torso of an Icaronycteris (prehistoric bat) and the hind legs of a Macrauchenia (a llamalike creature with a short trunk), to amusing effect. Drehsen adds first-person captions on the versos, which will also mix and match to produce chuckles: “Do you like my nose? It’s actually a short trunk…” “I may remind you of an ostrich, because my wings aren’t built for flying…” “My tail looks like a dolphin’s.” With but ten layers to flip, young paleontologists will run through most of the permutations in just a few minutes, but Ball’s precisely detailed ink-and-watercolor portraits of each animal formally posed against plain cream colored backdrops may provide a slightly more enduring draw. A silhouette key on the front pastedown includes a pronunciation guide and indicates scale. Overall, a pleasing complement to more substantive treatments. (Novelty nonfiction. 6-8)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7892-1099-9
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Abbeville Kids
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
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