Guaranteed to get readers giggling (and scratching)
In the latest Elephant & Piggie Like Reading! title, a troupe of dinosaurs confronts an existential quandary.
“Dinosaurs do not scratch” reads the legend on a rock behind a napping tortoise. A bespectacled dino in T-shirt and shorts muses, “You learn something new every day.” It observes a triceratops about to scratch a scab and stops it: “Dinosaurs are TOUGH! We do not scratch!” It similarly corrects a pterodactyl with a bee sting, a sauropod with an itchy back, and a T. Rex with an irritating tag in the collar of its shirt. Demonstrating its toughness, it submits to various itch-producing indignities, including a wool sweater, “hair from my last haircut,” and a cat, and despite obviously mounting distress does not scratch. At this point, the tortoise gets up and moves away, revealing a concluding “alone” etched in the rock. Naturally, all the discussion of itching and not scratching has caused everyone to feel “ITCHY!”; happily, these dinosaurs are not alone, so they indulge in a massive orgy of scratching, the relief it brings signaled with cool blues that replace the itchy reds that had predominated. The silly premise and equally silly treatment are carried out in the series’ signature format, color-coded speech bubbles providing cues to both speakers and mood. The question of “why dinosaurs do not scratch alone” is never answered, but that’s hardly the point.
Guaranteed to get readers giggling (and scratching) . (Early reader. 5-9)Pub Date: May 15, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-368-00564-7
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A jam-packed opener sure to satisfy lovers of the princess genre.
Ice princess Lina must navigate family and school in this early chapter read.
The family picnic is today. This is not a typical gathering, since Lina’s maternal relatives are a royal family of Windtamers who have power over the weather and live in castles floating on clouds. Lina herself is mixed race, with black hair and a tan complexion like her Asian-presenting mother’s; her Groundling father appears to be a white human. While making a grand entrance at the castle of her grandfather, the North Wind, she fails to successfully ride a gust of wind and crashes in front of her entire family. This prompts her stern grandfather to ask that Lina move in with him so he can teach her to control her powers. Desperate to avoid this, Lina and her friend Claudia, who is black, get Lina accepted at the Hilltop Science and Arts Academy. Lina’s parents allow her to go as long as she does lessons with grandpa on Saturdays. However, fitting in at a Groundling school is rough, especially when your powers start freak winter storms! With the story unfurling in diary format, bright-pink–highlighted grayscale illustrations help move the plot along. There are slight gaps in the storytelling and the pacing is occasionally uneven, but Lina is full of spunk and promotes self-acceptance.
A jam-packed opener sure to satisfy lovers of the princess genre. (Fantasy. 5-8)Pub Date: June 25, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-35393-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode.
A long-running series reaches its closing chapters.
Having, as Kline notes in her warm valedictory acknowledgements, taken 30 years to get through second and third grade, Harry Spooger is overdue to move on—but not just into fourth grade, it turns out, as his family is moving to another town as soon as the school year ends. The news leaves his best friend, narrator “Dougo,” devastated…particularly as Harry doesn’t seem all that fussed about it. With series fans in mind, the author takes Harry through a sort of last-day-of-school farewell tour. From his desk he pulls a burned hot dog and other items that featured in past episodes, says goodbye to Song Lee and other classmates, and even (for the first time ever) leads Doug and readers into his house and memento-strewn room for further reminiscing. Of course, Harry isn’t as blasé about the move as he pretends, and eyes aren’t exactly dry when he departs. But hardly is he out of sight before Doug is meeting Mohammad, a new neighbor from Syria who (along with further diversifying a cast that began as mostly white but has become increasingly multiethnic over the years) will also be starting fourth grade at summer’s end, and planning a written account of his “horrible” buddy’s exploits. Finished illustrations not seen.
A fitting farewell, still funny, acute, and positive in its view of human nature even in its 37th episode. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Nov. 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-451-47963-1
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
