When Bibi, her first and favorite babysitter, moves away, it takes all of August for 8-year-old Eleanor to get beyond her sense of loss and get used to a new caretaker. Her parents grieve, too; her mother even takes some time off work. But, as is inevitable in a two-income family, eventually a new sitter appears. Natalie is sensible and understanding. They find new activities to do together, including setting up a lemonade stand outside Eleanor’s Brooklyn apartment building, waiting for Val, the mail carrier, and taking pictures of flowers with Natalie’s camera. Gradually Eleanor adjusts, September comes, her new teacher writes a welcoming letter, her best friend returns from summer vacation and third grade starts smoothly. Best of all, Val brings a loving letter from Bibi in Florida. While the story is relatively lengthy, each chapter is a self-contained episode, written simply and presented in short lines, accessible to those still struggling with the printed word. Cordell’s gray-scale line drawings reflect the action and help break up the text on almost every page. This first novel is a promising debut. Eleanor’s concerns, not only about her babysitter, but also about playmates, friends and a new school year will be familiar to readers, who will look forward to hearing more about her life. (Fiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: March 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-8109-8424-0
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Feb. 10, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
“Do fairies exist? The answer is a definite, energetic, resounding and unquestionable Yes.” Suggesting that anyone who has ever felt inexplicably grumpy, happy, scatterbrained, loving or giggly has been influenced by a particular kind of fairy, Carretero proceeds to catalog fairy types, habitats (country fairies have “hot pollen for breakfast” and do “complicated yoga exercises”) and yearly celebrations. An album at the end provides six pages of fairy types (kissy-kissy, bubbly, brainy—in glasses, natch—etc.), and the book concludes with a few fairy activities. Showing a fondness for bright flowers and checkerboard patterns, she illustrates the tour with luminous watercolor scenes featuring gatherings of wide-eyed winged girls (all fairies being “half girl and half insect”) with extra-long pipestem limbs flitting gracefully about a range of urban and rural settings. Next to Sally Gardner’s more clever and comprehensive Fairy Catalogue (2001) this comes off as sweet fare, but thin—and the single-page multicultural fairy gallery includes some stereotyping, with a German fairy identified by the sausage at the end of her wand and an omnibus “Oriental” fairy next to others from specific countries. Like its diminutive subjects, easy to miss. (Picture book. 7-9)
Pub Date: April 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-84-937814-9-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Cuento de Luz
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2011
In these six stories, O’Malley capitalizes on most of the stereotypes associated with school—practical jokers, daydreamers...
When it comes to school, backpacks and desks go hand in hand, so it is no surprise that O’Malley has followed his Backpack Stories (2009) with this impertinent look at that standard of classroom furniture, the desk.
In these six stories, O’Malley capitalizes on most of the stereotypes associated with school—practical jokers, daydreamers and goody two-shoes, attempts to escape boring lessons and fool teachers and the quintessential messy desk. All are all wrapped up with his own particular brand of sassy, off-the-wall humor. His tour of desk history includes medieval desks that sport spikes to prevent napping during class. In "Trapped!," John gets chased down and returned to class by his monstrous desk, while "It Came from Within" chronicles the attempt of two practical jokers to even the academic playing field. A school-themed spread of jokes is followed by a high-tech look at some prototypes of Desktec’s line of desks of the future. The adventures of “Sue Smallton: The Incredible Shrinking Supergirl" round out the collection with a hideously dangerous journey into the bowels of a desk to retrieve a lost barrette. O’Malley’s artwork is a combination of different graphic styles, lending each separate story its own feel and highlighting their science-fictional basis.Pub Date: July 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-8075-1562-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2011
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