Though everyone else teases new girl Rose Marie because she's fat, narrator Claire (freckles, heavy glasses) likes her company, and the two become good friends. Then, on a class trip, Claire is lured away by mean (but popular) Genevieve, leaving Rose Marie in the lurch until a particularly cruel jibe from Genevieve recalls Claire to her true allegiance. Shoving Genevieve's ice cream into her face, Claire goes back to her real friend, a little contrite but glad to have altered the class dynamics. Like Claire, readers may not be sure that her assertiveness takes the best form, but that—plus the incisive caricatures in Passen's colorful illustrations—makes the story all the more thought-provoking. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1991
ISBN: 0-8050-1653-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1991
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An all-day sugar rush, putting the “fun” back into, er, education.
A young visionary describes his ideal school: “Perfectly planned and impeccably clean. / On a scale, 1 to 10, it’s more like 15!”
In keeping with the self-indulgently fanciful lines of If I Built a Car (2005) and If I Built a House (2012), young Jack outlines in Seussian rhyme a shiny, bright, futuristic facility in which students are swept to open-roofed classes in clear tubes, there are no tests but lots of field trips, and art, music, and science are afterthoughts next to the huge and awesome gym, playground, and lunchroom. A robot and lots of cute puppies (including one in a wheeled cart) greet students at the door, robotically made-to-order lunches range from “PB & jelly to squid, lightly seared,” and the library’s books are all animated popups rather than the “everyday regular” sorts. There are no guards to be seen in the spacious hallways—hardly any adults at all, come to that—and the sparse coed student body features light- and dark-skinned figures in roughly equal numbers, a few with Asian features, and one in a wheelchair. Aside from the lack of restrooms, it seems an idyllic environment—at least for dog-loving children who prefer sports and play over quieter pursuits.
An all-day sugar rush, putting the “fun” back into, er, education. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-525-55291-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
“Once upon a bad hair day, a prince rode up Rapunzel’s way.” This opening line sets the stage for a thoroughly silly, modernized, and thoroughly fractured fairy tale written in rhyme. When the prince calls, “throw down your hair,” Rapunzel, armed with hair dryer and computer, hears, “throw down your underwear.” Which she does—followed by dirty socks for curly locks, silky dresses for silky tresses, cantaloupe for rope, pancake batter for ladder. Get the picture? When he calls out for her braid, she pushes out her maid, who lands on the prince and they fall in love and ride off together. The off-beat collage illustrations are as kooky as the tale, fabrics obviously used for clothing, but a mix of materials for flowers and shrubs. The rhyming device for the objects lends a participatory element for kids who already know the real version. And the twist on “happily ever after” spins a reality-based meaning on the phrase “falling for you” that kids should find funny. (Picture book/fairy tale. 5-8)
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-399-23794-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2003
BOOK REVIEW
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