Hector follows up Little Matador (2008) with another simply told take on the value of staying true to oneself. Outfitting an all-insect cast in frilly gowns, top hats and like dress from centuries past, he creates a comfy setting for his tale of a smitten teacher—(almost) literally and figuratively a bookworm—who exchanges his casual dress for more formal clothing in an effort to be noticed by a newly arrived Lady Bug. Disaster ensues, and the Gentleman Bug flees home in massive embarrassment. As it turns out, he needn’t have bothered with a makeover, because shortly thereafter the town’s new library opens and its librarian is none other than… guess who? The two bond instantly over their shared love of reading and are last seen sitting together with bookish intimacy on a picnic blanket spread beneath nodding garden flowers. The author relies a little too heavily on details in the pictures to fill out his sketchy text, but he artfully uses subdued colors, elegant lines and generous quantities of space to lend low-key grace to each scene. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: April 6, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4169-9467-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2010
Rylant (Henry and Mudge and the Sneaky Crackers, 1998, etc.) slips into a sentimental mode for this latest outing of the boy and his dog, as she sends Mudge and Henry and his parents off on a camping trip. Each character is attended to, each personality sketched in a few brief words: Henry's mother is the camping veteran with outdoor savvy; Henry's father doesn't know a tent stake from a marshmallow fork, but he's got a guitar for campfire entertainment; and the principals are their usual ready-for-fun selves. There are sappy moments, e.g., after an evening of star- gazing, Rylant sends the family off to bed with: ``Everyone slept safe and sound and there were no bears, no scares. Just the clean smell of trees . . . and wonderful green dreams.'' With its nice tempo, the story is as toasty as its campfire and swaddled in Stevenson's trusty artwork. (Fiction. 6-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-689-81175-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1998
With wordplay reminiscent of Margie Palatini at her best, Helakoski takes four timorous chickens into, then out of, the literal and figurative woods. Fleeing the henhouse after catching sight of a wolf, the pusillanimous pullets come to a deep ditch: “ ‘What if we can’t jump that far?’ ‘What if we fall in the ditch?’ ‘What if we get sucked into the mud?’ The chickens tutted, putted, and flutted. They butted into themselves and each other, until one by one . . . ” they do fall in. But then they pick themselves up and struggle out. Ensuing encounters with cows and a lake furnish similar responses and outcomes; ultimately they tumble into the wolf’s very cave, where they “picked, pecked, and pocked. They ruffled, puffled, and shuffled. They shrieked, squeaked, and freaked, until . . . ” their nemesis scampers away in panic. Fluttering about in pop-eyed terror, the portly, partly clothed hens make comical figures in Cole’s sunny cartoons (as does the flummoxed wolf)—but the genuine triumph in their final strut—“ ‘I am a big, brave chicken,’ said one chicken. ‘Ohh . . . ’ said the others. ‘Me too.’ ‘Me three.’ ‘Me four’ ”—brings this tribute to chicken power to a rousing close. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-525-47575-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2005
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