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
The wriggly narrator of Diary of a Worm (2003) puts in occasional appearances, but it’s his arachnid buddy who takes center stage here, with terse, tongue-in-cheek comments on his likes (his close friend Fly, Charlotte’s Web), his dislikes (vacuums, people with big feet), nervous encounters with a huge Daddy Longlegs, his extended family—which includes a Grandpa more than willing to share hard-won wisdom (The secret to a long, happy life: “Never fall asleep in a shoe.”)—and mishaps both at spider school and on the human playground. Bliss endows his garden-dwellers with faces and the odd hat or other accessory, and creates cozy webs or burrows colorfully decorated with corks, scraps, plastic toys and other human detritus. Spider closes with the notion that we could all get along, “just like me and Fly,” if we but got to know one another. Once again, brilliantly hilarious. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-06-000153-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Joanna Cotler/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2005
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
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