A good choice for girls who love sparkles
“I am Kiki, World-Famous Style Star!”
Meet Kiki, budding fashionista, expert shopper, enthusiastic dog lover, devoted chicken caregiver and excellent friend. Since her mom is going away for a week for her work as a fashion stylist, Kiki is keeping a journal to apprise her of everything that goes on, particularly the adventures of the Lotus Lane Girls Club (Kiki and her friends Lulu and Coco). In an accessible diary format that includes texts, drawings of Kiki’s various outfits and side commentary, Kiki relates—in preteenspeak —some of the highs (pajama parties, cupcake baking, outfit planning) and lows (stressing over a school project, failing to befriend new classmate Mika) of being an elementary school girl. When it turns out that both Kiki and Mika have chosen to create fashions for the school art fair, the competition gets a little fierce; add to it various misunderstandings and a missing dog, and a huge mess ensues. What’s a girl to do? While admittedly very light fare with a thin plot, minimal character development and an excess of exclamation points, girly girls and fans of May’s earlier books will eat this up. Though part of the publisher’s new Branches series of chapter books, the busy format may initially stump children just graduating from early readers.
A good choice for girls who love sparkles . (Fiction. 6-8)Pub Date: May 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-545-44512-2
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Branches/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2013
Readers who (inexplicably) find David Lawrence’s Pickle and Penguin (2004) just too weird may settle in more comfortably...
A lad finds a penguin on his doorstep and resolutely sets out to return it in this briefly told import.
Eventually, he ends up rowing it all the way back to Antarctica, braving waves and storms, filling in the time by telling it stories. But then, feeling lonely after he drops his silent charge off, he belatedly realizes that it was probably lonely too, and turns back to find it. Seeing Jeffers’s small, distant figures in wide, simply brushed land- and sea-scapes, young viewers will probably cotton to the penguin’s feelings before the boy himself does—but all’s well that ends well, and the reunited companions are last seen adrift together in the wide blue sea.
Readers who (inexplicably) find David Lawrence’s Pickle and Penguin (2004) just too weird may settle in more comfortably with this—slightly—less offbeat friendship tale. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-399-24503-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
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Damp.
A good friend can change your life.
Duck loves settling down with a hot beverage when he reads, but that’s the only liquid for him—he doesn’t like getting wet. As a result, he dresses in a yellow rain slicker constantly and spends rainy days inside with the shutters drawn. This solitary existence continues until one night when a particularly bad storm creates a hole in Duck’s roof. When he sets out to investigate repairing it, he comes face to face with a lost frog on his doorstep. Even though Frog loves the water, the two develop a friendship through a shared love of reading. Frog eventually finds his way home, but the two have bonded, and Duck invites Frog to join him as a new roommate. Although the story’s soft cartoon illustrations are amusing—Duck peddling his bicycle in his slicker, boots, and sou’wester will elicit smiles—they can’t save the superficial message of the story. Duck’s phobia is never directly addressed, but once Frog moves in permanently, the rain slicker vanishes, so there’s a bit of a visual resolution. Books addressing new friendships are always needed, but the characters need to be developed to attract and inspire readers. This pale imitation of Oliver Jeffers’ Lost and Found (2006) doesn’t have the depth needed to carry the message. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-15.8-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Damp. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: March 30, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5344-8917-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
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