Replete with greens and grins, these three episodes introduce a pair of sunny tempered alligators—one with a taste for adventure, the other with a taste for chocolate, pancakes, and cherry snowcones. In the first, Mr. Green’s excitement after Mrs. Green proposes a camping trip changes to anxiety as he visualizes dark woods, glowing eyes, and mosquitoes, then relief when the map leads them around the neighborhood, then through a familiar gate, and finally the tent is pitched in their back yard. In the second, he needs a little help to make good on his determination to eat 100 pancakes, turning “green,” but managing a celebratory slice of cake when he does it. In the third, both Greens shine as her painting, and the flowers he puts on her hat, win blue ribbons at the County Fair. Though the Greens’ relationship doesn’t have the effervescence of, say, Frog and Toad’s, or George and Martha’s, children will enjoy following the rotund reptiles through their mini-adventures, and through the bright and snappy, simply drawn cartoon scenes. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-15-216506-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2002
Disheartened by environmental destruction, a girl determines to do all she can to reverse the process in Cheng’s optimistic invitation to personal action. The girl plants a tree, walks to school instead of riding, cleans up the yard, writes, sings, marches, and speaks for the world, then imagines, in an affecting final series of illustrations, what would happen “if the children of the world did all that they could.” Woolman bases his ink-and-colored-pencil illustrations on the metaphor of the gradual cleaning of a stained-glass window; his early images are blue and gloomy, but frame by frame, a glistening world emerges. His depiction of the brilliance achieved aids the simple, restrained text enormously, as he adds the layers needed for making the text specific. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2000
ISBN: 1-56656-330-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Crocodile/Interlink
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2000
After a wild storm at sea, a retired fisherman finds an abandoned seal baby, and takes him home to his cottage. Soon the seal settles in, drinking fish soup from a bottle, and following the fisherman around. The neighbor children come to pet and play with the seal, but the fisherman knows he is a wild thing and should go back to the sea. He teaches him to dive for fish, and when he is grown releases him so he can join the other seals in the bay. It’s a work of fiction, but Waite makes it easy to envision such a scenario; this warm and cozy story offers a welcome picture of contemporary life by the sea. Reed works in a palette of lavender and blue watercolors; the people are smiling and the seals are completely charming. A gentle message, delicately delivered. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: Sept. 8, 1998
ISBN: 1-56656-292-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Crocodile/Interlink
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1998
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
