High-spirited action with well-developed characters make this series a hit every time. Where will Maybelle end up next?...
Maybelle the daring cockroach of Maybelle Goes to Tea (2008, etc.) makes decisions with her sweet tooth.
Maybelle, in her fourth outing, has not lost a bit of her spirit for adventure, despite following The Rules for cockroach safety, including, “never meet with human feet.” It's Maybelle’s fondness for cake that leads to her latest adventure, when she accidentally hijacks a ride to school on Mrs. Peabody’s Ten-Layer Tower of Taste cake for the school bake sale. Luckily for Maybelle, her buddies Ramona the cat and Henry the flea join her at school. It’s sharing day, and Ramona is gussied up with a bow. The friends work together to save Henry from the flea circus that one of the neighbor boys is starting. While Henry turns out to be quite the fashion plate—he loves the little pants the boy puts him in—he does not love being trapped in a cup. His quick-thinking cockroach buddy comes up with a plan to free him, turning this slim volume into a cinematic escape. Expressive and energetic pen-and-ink illustrations on every spread help transitioning readers decode any challenging words and enjoy the story. Ample space between words and generously sized typeface support reading too.
High-spirited action with well-developed characters make this series a hit every time. Where will Maybelle end up next? (Fantasy. 5-9)Pub Date: June 2, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-8050-9158-8
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: March 10, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look...
Winning actually isn’t everything, as jazz-happy Rooster learns when he goes up against the legendary likes of Mules Davis and Ella Finchgerald at the barnyard talent show.
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look good—particularly after his “ ‘Hen from Ipanema’ [makes] / the barnyard chickies swoon.”—but in the end the competition is just too stiff. No matter: A compliment from cool Mules and the conviction that he still has the world’s best band soon puts the strut back in his stride. Alexander’s versifying isn’t always in tune (“So, he went to see his cousin, / a pianist of great fame…”), and despite his moniker Rooster plays an electric bass in Bower’s canted country scenes. Children are unlikely to get most of the jokes liberally sprinkled through the text, of course, so the adults sharing it with them should be ready to consult the backmatter, which consists of closing notes on jazz’s instruments, history and best-known musicians.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-58536-688-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
A first-rate sharkfest, unusually nutritious for all its brevity.
Buzz and his buzzy buddy open a spinoff series of nonfiction early readers with an aquarium visit.
Buzz: “Like other fish, sharks breathe through gills.” Fly Guy: “GILLZZ.” Thus do the two pop-eyed cartoon tour guides squire readers past a plethora of cramped but carefully labeled color photos depicting dozens of kinds of sharks in watery settings, along with close-ups of skin, teeth and other anatomical features. In the bite-sized blocks of narrative text, challenging vocabulary words like “carnivores” and “luminescence” come with pronunciation guides and lucid in-context definitions. Despite all the flashes of dentifrice and references to prey and smelling blood in the water, there is no actual gore or chowing down on display. Sharks are “so cool!” proclaims Buzz at last, striding out of the gift shop. “I can’t wait for our next field trip!” (That will be Fly Guy Presents: Space, scheduled for September 2013.)
A first-rate sharkfest, unusually nutritious for all its brevity. (Informational easy reader. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-545-50771-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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