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FAIRY WINGS

A collaboration between the creator of The Rag Coat (1991) and the creator of The Castle Builder (1993) results in an anemic, predictable tale of a wingless fairy saving her sept from a troll and getting engaged to a prince. Fia, scorned by her seven sisters, mends the wing of a passing fairy who (no surprise) turns out to be Prince Hyacinth. She accepts his invitation to the May Dance, arriving in time to see all the fairies netted by a troll, and contrives a rescue. The prose is limp; occasional efforts to enliven it—one character uses a sock to blow his nose—come off as vulgar instead of earthy. Fia and her kin adopt mannered poses in slightly blurred paintings that appear to be coated with yellow varnish. Challenge lovers of wee folk with David Christiana's surprising, considerably less conventional White Nineteens (1992) instead. (Picture book. 7-9)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1995

ISBN: 0-316-57397-3

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1995

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J.B. WIGGLEBOTTOM AND THE PARADE OF PETS

A first novel about a school-sponsored pet show featuring a runaway rhea (entered by Buddy Zimmer, fifth-grade bully and all- around top dog) and a colony of ants that spells out a message on a honey-baited board (entered by J.B., Buddy's victim, desperate to make up for past humiliations). There's a realistic exploration of J.B.'s alternating feelings of affection and resentment toward his younger sister, but in the central bully/victim relationship J.B.'s reactions to Buddy are unbelievably mild. Descriptive passages are also a frequent problem: the reader is sometimes sidetracked by irrelevant detail; and some scenes are difficult to visualize because descriptions are imprecise. Indifferent b&w illustrations; the attractive color jacket gives away the ending. (Fiction. 7-9)

Pub Date: April 30, 1993

ISBN: 0-689-31811-1

Page Count: 90

Publisher: Atheneum

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1993

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MEET POSY BATES

A disappointing early chapter book from a gifted humorist (the popular Bagthorpe books, etc). Posy, eight, yearns for a pet but makes do with ``creepy crawlies,'' like a pair of spiders she keeps in a jar and the fleas she hopes to find on a hedgehog she brings in from the garden. Her mother, preoccupied with baby Fred, wants none of them. There are some encounters with a hungry bag-lady before Posy throws a pet show that, as such, is a fiasco, but does bring her a stray dog that ``Mom'' says she may keep. Posy, imaginative and in need of attention, is drawn adroitly but from a rather adult point of view and in an ironic style that's as thoroughly British as the fabric of Posy's life (in which context ``Mom'' is ludicrous); many American readers Posy's age will find her story hard to follow, its events fairly predictable. Still, readers who enjoy King-Smith's more engaging Sophie's Snail (1989), with its similar theme and audience, might also warm to Posy. Illustrations not seen. (Fiction. 7-9)

Pub Date: April 30, 1992

ISBN: 0-02-725375-9

Page Count: 80

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1992

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