A light, gentle chapter book about helping others.
In a magical land populated by fairy animals, a kitten helps a lost baby mouse.
Chloe is one of the Cobweb Kittens, fairy cats in charge of collecting dewdrops from a magical spring during the sunrise and using them to decorate cobwebs and make Misty Wood beautiful. When Chloe oversleeps, she misses her breakfast. On her way to the spring, she stops for a drink at Moonshine Pond (presumably nothing stronger than water) and accidentally leaves her dewdrop basket behind. Luckily, a helpful Stardust Squirrel at the spring fashions a new basket, just in time for dewdrop collection. But while Chloe decorates her webs, the dewdrops vanish behind her. She discovers a thirsty baby Moss Mouse, separated from his parents and lapping up her dewdrops. Remembering the helpful squirrel, Chloe sets her work aside to find the mouse’s family. A verbal misunderstanding (the mouse says he lives next to lions, when actually he means dandelions) leads the duo from helpful animal to helpful animal on their search for the mouse’s home. After the successful completion of her quest, Chloe returns to cobweb-decorating with the help of the grateful mice. The saccharine-sweet illustrations occasionally have odd proportions, but the sparkles, rainbows and abundant fairy wings on cuddly animals will enchant animal-loving girly-girls. Previously published overseas, this series starter will release simultaneously with Book 2, Bella the Bunny.
A light, gentle chapter book about helping others. (activities) (Fantasy. 5-8)Pub Date: Feb. 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-62779-141-0
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2014
A first-rate sharkfest, unusually nutritious for all its brevity.
Buzz and his buzzy buddy open a spinoff series of nonfiction early readers with an aquarium visit.
Buzz: “Like other fish, sharks breathe through gills.” Fly Guy: “GILLZZ.” Thus do the two pop-eyed cartoon tour guides squire readers past a plethora of cramped but carefully labeled color photos depicting dozens of kinds of sharks in watery settings, along with close-ups of skin, teeth and other anatomical features. In the bite-sized blocks of narrative text, challenging vocabulary words like “carnivores” and “luminescence” come with pronunciation guides and lucid in-context definitions. Despite all the flashes of dentifrice and references to prey and smelling blood in the water, there is no actual gore or chowing down on display. Sharks are “so cool!” proclaims Buzz at last, striding out of the gift shop. “I can’t wait for our next field trip!” (That will be Fly Guy Presents: Space, scheduled for September 2013.)
A first-rate sharkfest, unusually nutritious for all its brevity. (Informational easy reader. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-545-50771-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A gentle adventure that sets the stage for future quests.
A lonely prince gains a friend for a quest to find a missing jewel.
Prince Lucas of Wrenly has everything a boy could possibly want—except a friend. His father has forbidden him to play with the village children for reasons of propriety. Adventure-seeking Lucas acquires peasant clothes to masquerade as a commoner and make friends, but he is caught out. His mother, the queen, persuades the king to allow him one friend: Clara, the daughter of her personal dressmaker. When the queen’s prized emerald pendant goes missing, Lucas and Clara set off to find it. They follow the jewel as it changes hands, interviewing each temporary owner. Their adventure cleverly introduces the series’ world and peoples, taking the children to the fairy island of Primlox, the trolls’ home of Burth, the wizard island of Hobsgrove and finally Mermaid’s Cove. By befriending the mermaids, Lucas and Clara finally recover the jewel. In thanks, the king gives Clara a horse of her own so that she may ride with Lucas on their future adventures. The third-person narration is generally unobtrusive, allowing the characters to take center stage. The charming, medieval-flavored illustrations set the fairy-tale scene and take up enough page space that new and reluctant readers won’t be overwhelmed by text.
A gentle adventure that sets the stage for future quests. (Fantasy. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4424-9691-0
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Feb. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
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