On a roll indeed!
Sixth grader Nate Wright needs a new skateboard…but more than that he needs to beat perfect Artur at SOMETHING.
Artur has a nifty foreign accent. Artur has Jenny, the girl Nate likes. Artur charms adults and kids alike, and Nate can’t stand it. What makes it double awful is that Artur is such a nice guy. Infuriating. But Artur IS to blame for Nate’s losing his skateboard…indirectly. Artur dripped paint in Nate’s eye, causing Nate to knock over the ladder Artur was on. Nate got detention (Artur didn’t), and Nate had to hurry on his skateboard to get to Timber Scouts. In the hurry, Nate was clothes-lined by a lady and her poodle, and his board sailed into the river. There is a chance he can win a new board by selling (dorky) wall hangings door to door for Scouts. He just has to beat the new kid in the troop…Artur! Peirce’s third Big Nate chapter book, starring Big Nate (from the comic strip of the same name), is the slickest of this series of hybrid comics-and-text chapter books. Nate’s an artistic, realistic, funny narrator.
On a roll indeed!Pub Date: Aug. 16, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-194438-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A bubble-gum crowd pleaser with wide audience appeal.
A young girl who prefers science to people discovers an adorable and smelly little creature.
With an inquisitive mind and a dark teardrop-shaped swoop of hair, Olga may not have many friends, but she loves animals and thinks even their "farts are cute." She studies them and carefully transcribes her observations; she hopes someday to hang out with Jane Goodall. When she hears a scary rumble in her trash can, Olga discovers Meh, a pudgy, smelly creature that she describes as a "cross between an inflated hamster and a potato drawn by a three-year-old." Like any good scientist-in-training, she observes Meh, trying to discern his habits and his diet. When Meh goes missing, Olga must recruit actual people to help her find him—including two pop-star–obsessed girls she calls "The Lalas," a friendly boy with a tall scribble of hair and an incontinent dog, a punk-rock librarian, and a goofy but helpful shopkeeper. Gravel's tale is a visually interesting mix of illustration and story, punctuated by numerous lists, comic panels, and cartoon diagrams and led by a smart female protagonist. Covering everything from zoology to poop jokes, Gravel has painted her tale with a broad brush that should render this an easy sell to most young readers. The human characters all have paper-white skin, and there is no other cueing of racial difference.
A bubble-gum crowd pleaser with wide audience appeal. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 7-10)Pub Date: March 14, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-235126-5
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
A gentle paean to friendship most suitable for that perfect friend.
A heartfelt “thank you” to a special friend.
Speaking in the first person and addressing an unidentified friend as “you,” the author begins this little tribute by expressing appreciation for all the friend is and does. Assuring the friend that “where you are, things are brighter,” the author adds, “you’re a gem, you’re a peach, you’re a wonderful friend.” Admitting it’s hard to find the right words (even in a “giant…dictionary”), the author asserts the friend is “gooder than good” and “kinder than kind,” and there’s just no way to describe the friend’s inner light and spirit. Indeed, knowing this friend is part of the author’s life “makes even the rainy days feel more alright.” Present on all the author’s “brightest days,” the friend has clearly made “more than a little” difference in the author’s life. The rhyming text adds quiet cadence to this somewhat abstract ode to friendship while precise, small-scale illustrations, rendered in pale tans and greens, provide a visual context featuring a fox and a squirrel wearing old-fashioned shirts and knickers. Each page turn reveals the two friends together: kite-flying, picnicking, gathering honey, fishing, catching fireflies, drinking tea, sheltering under a toadstool, dancing, hopping across lily pads, cycling, swinging, star-gazing, sleeping in hammocks, and sharing all their brightest days surrounded by delicate botanicals.
A gentle paean to friendship most suitable for that perfect friend. (Picture book. 7-10)Pub Date: June 29, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-970147-44-5
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
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