The “Help Wanted” sign in a cafe window draws some unusual applicants in this breezy, tongue-in-cheek middle reader from the author of Mean Mean Maureen Green (1999). As proprietor/struggling writer Uncle Clem insists that nothing worth noting ever happens along their stretch of Nevada road, young Sam serves up a peanut-butter/fried-banana/bacon sandwich to a man with a pink Cadillac and blue suede shoes (“ ‘Thank you,’ drawled the man. ‘Thank you very much.’ ”) and a vanilla shake to a jolly vacationer from way up north (“Red cheeks: check. White beard: check. Round little belly: check. No. It couldn't be!”). Then an oversized dust devil delivers a girl with a dog (“ ‘I don't think we're in Kansas anymore.’ ”) and helps rescue a small green traveler from a—vehicle—that crashes nearby (“ ‘Can't understand a word he says,’ said Uncle Clem. ‘Must be from out of state.’ ”) And these aren't the only visitors. Kidd supplies a generous array of vignettes and full-page cartoons, adding both fun and visual clues to the identities of these new employees. Though the Lonesome Cafe can't match Cynthia Rylant's Van Gogh Cafe (1995) for marvelous goingson, this will be a hit with young children, as well as reluctant readers old enough to twig to the cultural references. (Fiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: April 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-15-202134-5
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Layton’s zany alien family comes to Earth in search of humans, but with only guidebook descriptions of what people look like, it’s easy to make mistakes—especially when their flying saucer lands at the zoo! “They don’t have tails and they mostly stand on two feet,” reads the father, effectively ruling out kangaroos and tigers as potential people. The smallest alien is anxious to snap a picture of penguins, but it turns out they aren’t human—people don’t have wings. After searching the “entire planet” (that is, within the confines of the zoo walls), the aliens finally do find a creature to match their guidebook’s description perfectly, and to make Darwin smile. The goofy illustrations deploy a childlike sense of fun; the aliens are pleasant creatures with round patchwork bodies and eyes on stalks, and the gregarious zoo animals will ring true for the animal cracker set. (Picture book. 3-7)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-8037-2381-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Pooh might describe this 1925 offering from Milne as a Very Small Tale, and so it is, but gentle and sweet withal. Princess Daffodil is the only daughter after six sons of the king and queen, and at her christening the Fairy Mumruffin grants her the gift of flowers, which will grow wherever she steps. When the princess begins toddling about the king’s favorite thinking place, strewing flowers everywhere, the king decides she must keep off the paths entirely. After a few years of this, the doctor pronounces that she must do what little girls do: “She must run about more. She must climb hills and roll down them. She must hope and skip and jump.” So the queen finds a solution in a small hill, where Daffodil can do all those things to her heart’s content, and where children play and pick the posies she makes there. Brown, who remembered the story from her own mother’s telling, who remembered it from her mother, has created delicate and winsome illustrations that are also precise: the various species of flowers are easily identifiable. Children will be charmed by the little doll-like faces of the characters and the excellent fairy colors, pastel-colored to jewel-toned as needed. (Picture book. 4-7)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-525-46147-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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