This zombie may not be able to keep her body together, but she can sure keep her head in delicate situations and be a good...
A student who is a zombie has more difficulty than most keeping it together at school, but her relationship skills are never in any doubt.
Math, grammar, spelling, and reading precede the much-anticipated show-and-tell (Zombelina’s “hip-hop’s to DIE for!”), and by then, readers will see where the tale might be going, as Zombelina loses the hand she raises to answer a question, and she puts her nose in her book. Literally. Sure enough, Zombelina and her dance both fall apart. But though the green-skinned girl is upset, it doesn’t keep her from building the nervous ghost Morty up for his turn on his first day in a new school. After all, what could be worse than Zombelina’s performance? After that, she, Morty, and her friend Lizzie (a living white girl) are fast friends. The tale ends with a dance party at Zombelina’s house after her classmates request dance lessons. Crow’s verses have the hip-hop rhythm of rap, though some will take some practice to read aloud smoothly. Idle’s Prismacolor-pencil illustrations portray Zombelina as a blonde with a style all her own. Zigzags and hash marks make it look as though her body parts are stitched together. Aside from the phantasmagoric, blue Morty, the rest of the class has a normal range of diverse skin tones.
This zombie may not be able to keep her body together, but she can sure keep her head in delicate situations and be a good friend. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 6, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-61963-641-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: May 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A nicely inventive little morality “tail” for newly independent readers.
Two little rats decide to show the world how tough they are, with unpredictable results.
Louie and Ralphie Ratso want to be just like their single dad, Big Lou: tough! They know that “tough” means doing mean things to other animals, like stealing Chad Badgerton’s hat. Chad Badgerton is a big badger, so taking that hat from him proves that Louie and Ralphie are just as tough as they want to be. However, it turns out that Louie and Ralphie have just done a good deed instead of a bad one: Chad Badgerton had taken that hat from little Tiny Crawley, a mouse, so when Tiny reclaims it, they are celebrated for goodness rather than toughness. Sadly, every attempt Louie and Ralphie make at doing mean things somehow turns nice. What’s a little boy rat supposed to do to be tough? Plus, they worry about what their dad will say when he finds out how good they’ve been. But wait! Maybe their dad has some other ideas? LaReau keeps the action high and completely appropriate for readers embarking on chapter books. Each of the first six chapters features a new, failed attempt by Louie and Ralphie to be mean, and the final, seventh chapter resolves everything nicely. The humor springs from their foiled efforts and their reactions to their failures. Myers’ sprightly grayscale drawings capture action and characters and add humorous details, such as the Ratsos’ “unwelcome” mat.
A nicely inventive little morality “tail” for newly independent readers. (Fiction. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7636-7636-0
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
Music takes center stage and bullies get properly pun-ished in this hearty and wholesome howl.
In this picture book from singer Parton and co-author Perl, a small French bulldog goes to Nashville, joins a band, fends off bullies, and meets one of the queens of country music.
Promising at the outset that this is just the first of a series of adventures starring her beloved “god-dog,” Parton goes on to hit all the conventional thematic notes. Inspired by musical dreams, Billy heads for Nashville. After a “ruff day” in which being scorned by big dogs for not being a “true muttropolitan” leaves him feeling “lower than a stick on the ground,” he eats some flowers, strums some tunes, forms a band with a trio of little dogs, and, after sending the big pooches packing, trots out a “pawsome” performance at the “Battle of the Bow-Wows.” And from there it’s on to the Grand Ole Opry to hear his big-haired favorite singer warble out lines from her song “Makin’ Fun Ain’t Funny,” about celebrating differences rather than mocking them. Haley slips those lines, along with references to “Jowlene” and “I will pawlways love you,” into painted scenes of an all-dog-or-Dolly cast set against swirls of music and simply drawn backdrops. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Music takes center stage and bullies get properly pun-ished in this hearty and wholesome howl. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: April 25, 2023
ISBN: 9780593661574
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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