Historical novelist Ayres uses just 32 words to transport a wrapped gift of enticingly odd shape, and the child who bears it, to Grandma’s house. Most of the action is in Tusa’s characteristic freely drawn, free-spirited pictures anyway, as the child busily uses sticks, a length of rope, and other found materials to convert a cardboard carton into a car, a boat, an airplane, and a subway car in succession, then makes the journey’s final lap on “feet feet feet.” Grandma meets her in the garden, opens the present—a watering can (“Hooray!”)—and cheerily invites her to tea. All smiles and busy play, this outdoorsy alternative or companion for Marisabina Russo’s Big Brown Box (2000) or Patricia Lee Gauch’s classic Christina Katerina and the Box (1968) celebrates the way children can turn almost anything to ingenious, imaginative use—and will send readers of any age out in search of their own boxes. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: April 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-7636-1047-X
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2003
Give this child’s-eye view of a day at the beach with an attentive father high marks for coziness: “When your ball blows across the sand and into the ocean and starts to drift away, your daddy could say, Didn’t I tell you not to play too close to the waves? But he doesn’t. He wades out into the cold water. And he brings your ball back to the beach and plays roll and catch with you.” Alley depicts a moppet and her relaxed-looking dad (to all appearances a single parent) in informally drawn beach and domestic settings: playing together, snuggling up on the sofa and finally hugging each other goodnight. The third-person voice is a bit distancing, but it makes the togetherness less treacly, and Dad’s mix of love and competence is less insulting, to parents and children both, than Douglas Wood’s What Dads Can’t Do (2000), illus by Doug Cushman. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: May 23, 2005
ISBN: 0-618-00361-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2005
Part of a spate of books intent on bringing the garbage collectors in children’s lives a little closer, this almost matches...
Listeners will quickly take up the percussive chorus—“Dump it in, smash it down, drive around the Trashy town! Is the trash truck full yet? NO”—as they follow burly Mr. Gilly, the garbage collector, on his rounds from park to pizza parlor and beyond.
Flinging cans and baskets around with ease, Mr. Gilly dances happily through streetscapes depicted with loud colors and large, blocky shapes; after a climactic visit to the dump, he roars home for a sudsy bath.
Part of a spate of books intent on bringing the garbage collectors in children’s lives a little closer, this almost matches Eve Merriam’s Bam Bam Bam (1995), also illustrated by Yaccarino, for sheer verbal and visual volume. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: April 30, 1999
ISBN: 0-06-027139-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1999
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