With this series, youngsters will find reading smooth sailing and look forward to future escapades. Next up: The circus...
In the third installment of the endearing Three-Ring Rascals chapter books, Sir Sidney’s circus brings cruise-ship entertainment to a new level, and Brambles’ heart grows as large as an ocean.
Sir Sidney continues to work with his manager, Barnabas Brambles, on being kind. Bert and Gert, the circus mice, see a long road ahead, but little do they know a sea change is coming. A letter from a Miss LaPasta arrives, inviting the circus aboard a cruise ship—all except Brambles! Miss LaPasta has “heard he’s the meanest man alive.” With that, Sir Sidney determines they will go, with Brambles. It’s only after they embark that they discover that Miss LaPasta is a lonely child who did not tell her mother, Capt. LaPasta, about the invitation. Worse, Sir Sidney is laid low by seasickness, while Brambles becomes lovesick for the captain. And although the ensemble thrills the passengers with their antics and acts, the unhappy captain sees ruin and disaster. Then they hit an iceberg! The adventures are captured in text that fully integrates art and speech bubbles, geography lessons are gratis, and the climax is marked by a meatball version of “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean.” All’s well that ends with wedding bells.
With this series, youngsters will find reading smooth sailing and look forward to future escapades. Next up: The circus tours Europe! (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 7-10)Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61620-365-8
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Algonquin
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2014
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BOOK REVIEW
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.
How to raise money for a coveted poster: put your friends to work!
John, founder of the FUBU fashion line and a Shark Tank venture capitalist, offers a self-referential blueprint for financial success. Having only half of the $10 he needs for a Minka J poster, Daymond forks over $1 to buy a plain T-shirt, paints a picture of the pop star on it, sells it for $5, and uses all of his cash to buy nine more shirts. Then he recruits three friends to decorate them with his design and help sell them for an unspecified amount (from a conveniently free and empty street-fair booth) until they’re gone. The enterprising entrepreneur reimburses himself for the shirts and splits the remaining proceeds, which leaves him with enough for that poster as well as a “brand-new business book,” while his friends express other fiscal strategies: saving their share, spending it all on new art supplies, or donating part and buying a (math) book with the rest. (In a closing summation, the author also suggests investing in stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrency.) Though Miles cranks up the visual energy in her sparsely detailed illustrations by incorporating bright colors and lots of greenbacks, the actual advice feels a bit vague. Daymond is Black; most of the cast are people of color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-56727-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
Another winner from Mills, equally well suited to reading aloud and independent reading.
When Franklin School principal Mr. Boone announces a pet-show fundraiser, white third-grader Cody—whose lack of skill and interest in academics is matched by keen enthusiasm for and knowledge of animals—discovers his time to shine.
As with other books in this series, the children and adults are believable and well-rounded. Even the dialogue is natural—no small feat for a text easily accessible to intermediate readers. Character growth occurs, organically and believably. Students occasionally, humorously, show annoyance with teachers: “He made mad squinty eyes at Mrs. Molina, which fortunately she didn’t see.” Readers will be kept entertained by Cody’s various problems and the eventual solutions. His problems include needing to raise $10 to enter one of his nine pets in the show (he really wants to enter all of them), his troublesome dog Angus—“a dog who ate homework—actually, who ate everything and then threw up afterward”—struggles with homework, and grappling with his best friend’s apparently uncaring behavior toward a squirrel. Serious values and issues are explored with a light touch. The cheery pencil illustrations show the school’s racially diverse population as well as the memorable image of Mr. Boone wearing an elephant costume. A minor oddity: why does a child so immersed in animal facts call his male chicken a rooster but his female chickens chickens?
Another winner from Mills, equally well suited to reading aloud and independent reading. (Fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: June 14, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-374-30223-8
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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