Sweet, fun, and a little flawed.
In Kane and Davis’ (The New Friend, 2016) second collaboration, play-date queen Ginger Green invites an unconventional friend over, and she has regrets immediately.
Seven-year-old fox Ginger takes great pride in her play-date setups, and she is excited for the next one with classmate Maisy. Almost immediately, though, Ginger is on the back foot as Maisy gets up to some unexpected antics: overexcited doorbell-ringing, enthusiastic nudity, and reckless roof-climbing chief among them. Ginger (not to mention her mother) is flummoxed at first but soon becomes angry—not the best mood for a play date. After Maisy returns to the ground and both have had some soothing lemonade, the girls do a few handstands and flips, and Ginger remembers that she loves her friend precisely because she always does the unexpected. Adding a dash of drama and danger to the social dilemma of playing hostess the series explores, this chapter book navigates the complex maze of developing friendships and the negotiation of compatibility. Uncluttered, grayscale illustrations provide cues without becoming distracting for new readers. That said, readers turned off by discriminatory terms such as “crazy” (used sparingly but significantly here) or notions that difference is linked to danger may want to try a different installment of the series.
Sweet, fun, and a little flawed. (Chapter book. 6-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5158-1953-0
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Picture Window Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
There are good lessons here, but here's hoping Bunting will deliver the next ones with a healthier helping of humor.
Frog and his friends are back (Frog and Friends, 2011) in another trio of early-reader tales, but this time they focus less on humor and problem solving and more on life lessons and manners.
In the first story, Frog and Bat play a game, pointing out the ways in which they are different, though “not unkindly.” There are compliments aplenty as the two discover that they have just as many similarities as differences. In the second story, Frog sets off for a vacation for some time alone to think. The trouble is, his friends all want to come along. Not wanting to be rude, Frog allows it, and it turns out to be the best vacation ever. In the final tale, Frog meets Starman, who gives away the stars in the sky (and teaches a few star facts in the process). Frog gathers all his friends, and they each pick out a star to be their very own, even though they have to stay in the sky. The hearty friendships are plenty evident, both in the text and in the expressive faces of Masse’s characters, but with the book’s emphasis on not hurting others’ feelings and making sure all are included, this is definitely more didactic than the series opener.
There are good lessons here, but here's hoping Bunting will deliver the next ones with a healthier helping of humor. (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-58536-550-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 28, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2012
A usually accomplished illustrator tries for extreme simplicity and takes a header with this confused and confusing episode. Having ridden his new bike “up / and down / and around” (and then, redundantly, “down the hill, / around the curve, / and back up”), Tom stops at friend Sam’s house to show it off. When he turns back from knocking at the door, his bike is gone. Four pages of searching later he suddenly spots Sam zooming around the adjacent yard (an area that was empty in a previous scene), gets an apology and happily shares bike and helmet with his buddy until a couple—presumably Sam’s parents, though they look only a year or so older—wheel in another bicycle and helmet. Along with wondering who those two newcomers are, child readers are likely to doubt that Tom’s stubby legs can reach the pedals in some scenes (in others he looks taller) and also how Sam could make a clean getaway with the bike when Tom is standing, in the picture, fewer than 10 feet away. The very brief text and simply drawn figures suspended in generous quantities of white space give this a superficially appealing look, but Ander’s Me and My Bike (2008) or Cari Best’s Sally Jean the Bicycle Queen, illustrated by Christine Davenier (2006), convey a fledgling bicyclist’s joy more effectively and coherently. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: March 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-8234-2226-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2011
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