The inhabitants of Number 11 have crafted an enticing world, but there isn’t enough here to invite readers back for a second...
This hit-or-miss rhyming catalog of the neighbors who live on the narrators’ (ostensibly the author and illustrator’s) street may leave readers wishing for more detail.
The unusual neighborhood features some true characters, each with a home that matches their occupation or personality. “Lightfingers” Louie lives at Number 2, and his concrete home includes bars on the windows, floodlights all around and a second-story balcony edged with barbed wire. The dancer lives in a Romani wagon–type house, while sailor Charlie Noble lives in a boat-shaped dwelling. Other residents include a cowboy, a queen, a cook and a man who has filled his house with empty bottles. The rhymes and rhythms mostly work, though the verses are too short to really introduce the eccentric neighbors: “Our Auntie, named Fritzi MacFluff, / Lives with her kitties, Sniffy and Snuff. / Her house is all knitted from yarn, / But you’ll find she gives not a darn!” Fienieg paints vivid portraits of the eclectic homes on the left-hand pages, their occupants opposite them. But a few may have readers (and parents) scratching their heads: Mr. Cree drinks tea and his house has distinct rounded towers—Middle Eastern? Russian? Or are they tea cozies? And in her fishbowl home, the Merry Maide’s voluptuous bosoms are not entirely contained within her seashells.
The inhabitants of Number 11 have crafted an enticing world, but there isn’t enough here to invite readers back for a second visit. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: May 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-9359-5424-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Lemniscaat USA
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
A sleepwalking child picks up an animal entourage—every night—in this winsome, circular debut.
When her annoyed mom wonders how her room came to be such a mess, Tippy can only shrug and speculate: “Maybe last night I walked out the door….” In a re-enactment that is also a new adventure, she passes over a dock, through a misty wood, down a deep hole, through a cactus patch and so back home. Along the way, she unconsciously collects a train of creatures, from a bee to a bear, that all make a new mess for her mother to discover in the morning. Interactions among the animals following her add small subplots and side actions: A frog pursues a bumblebee that’s always just out of tongue’s reach; a little mole falls in love with a bear that does not reciprocate. Dressed in a comfy gown and striped socks, Tippy strolls, climbs and drifts in smiling slumber through a succession of flat, sometimes-silhouetted scenes done in restful blues and grays. Occasional sound effects and comments in dialogue balloons furnish the text for her nightly ramble. A dreamy, slightly more visually sophisticated alternative to Peggy Rathmann’s Good Night, Gorilla (1994). (Graphic early reader. 4-6)
Pub Date: Feb. 11, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-9351-7957-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: TOON/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2014
The percentage of American children who often visit restaurants of the type described may be relatively small, but...
Where does the delicious food in a restaurant come from?
When Mommy and Daddy take you to a restaurant, what happens, and where does the food come from? A chef “makes all that delicious food,” the book explains but not “all by himself”(parenthetically, children are told that a chef might also be a woman). He wears special clothes. He has special tools: different kinds of knives and spoons and pots and mixers. He keeps fresh food, brought in every morning, in a cold-storage room. Sometimes chefs make up new recipes no one has ever tasted before. He puts them on a menu. The chef and his team work hard even before the restaurant is open. When the orders come in, their work really begins. Belgian author and illustrator Slegers’ full-page illustrations of smiling chefs going about their work feature bright cartoons that look much like the babies in her board books. The text, translated from the Dutch, can sound a bit robotic, and adult readers will likely have to explain a few words. However, food-related activities to try with a parent or teacher after the info-story are a plus.
The percentage of American children who often visit restaurants of the type described may be relatively small, but blossoming foodies will enjoy learning about activity behind the scenes in a high-end restaurant. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: April 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1605371795
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clavis
Review Posted Online: Feb. 18, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2014
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