No one loves cross Rosie but Marvin; she steps on feet, switches faces with her tail, and shoves the people on Brock's farm. Only Marvin understands that "Rosie is mad because Mr. Brock took away her calf." Then Mr. Brock sells his farm, Rosie and all. Dad has to find a new job, and Marvin is inconsolable—until he begins to keep a tiny, invisible new "Rosie" in a bottle. When he starts school, this Rosie makes Marvin the butt of teasing until his older sister comes up with a perfect face-saver, allowing him to go on enjoying his unusual imaginary friend—at home. Like Paterson's books for older readers, this pint-sized novel treats life's real troubles with sensitivity; and, as might be expected, the author adopts the constraints of the easy reader (her first) with grace and good humor. Brown's unassuming realistic illustrations deftly extend the story, catching the nuances of this nice family's emotions and some authentic details of present-day farming. (Easy reader. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-06-024690-1
Page Count: 64
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1991
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
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
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