Miss Irma Birnbaum, “the toughest teacher in town” and star of Passen’s Attack of the 50-Foot Teacher (2000), returns in this hilarious end-of-the-school-year adventure. The story opens with an assignment: “Be prepared for a surprise,” says Miss Birnbaum, who sports a silver beehive hairdo and cat-eye glasses. The children think she’s planning a pop quiz. The truth is, she’s planning a party. But Miss Birnbaum is about to get a surprise of her own. That night, while preparing party food in the school cafeteria, Miss Birnbaum slips and falls “right into the prune pudding, kidney bean cookies, and brussels sprout juice.” Passen’s comical watercolors reveal Miss Birnbaum bathed in a golden glow. The knobby-kneed teacher has begun to shrink. Pretty soon, she can barely open the cafeteria door, and a trip to the library to find a cure reveals bookshelves as big as skyscrapers. Back in the classroom, a scary encounter with “Zippy” the class hamster (who’s now her equal in height) forces Miss Birnbaum to spend the night running on the wheel in his cage. Miss Birnbaum escapes in the morning but she’s almost crushed by the gigantic children who roam the hallway. Luckily, “Johnny O’Leary’s” lunch falls out of his backpack, his cupcake lands on Miss Birnbaum, and Johnny and friends discover the “yucky” stuff stuck in the icing is really their teacher. The students rush Miss Birnbaum to the principal’s office, where she returns to normal size after falling in the fish tank. With their teacher saved and pizza and cake replacing prune pudding at the party, the children are delighted. Expect the unexpected in this purely pleasurable tale. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-8050-6452-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2002
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions.
Ellis, known for her illustrations for Colin Meloy’s Wildwood series, here riffs on the concept of “home.”
Shifting among homes mundane and speculative, contemporary and not, Ellis begins and ends with views of her own home and a peek into her studio. She highlights palaces and mansions, but she also takes readers to animal homes and a certain famously folkloric shoe (whose iconic Old Woman manages a passel of multiethnic kids absorbed in daring games). One spread showcases “some folks” who “live on the road”; a band unloads its tour bus in front of a theater marquee. Ellis’ compelling ink and gouache paintings, in a palette of blue-grays, sepia and brick red, depict scenes ranging from mythical, underwater Atlantis to a distant moonscape. Another spread, depicting a garden and large building under connected, transparent domes, invites readers to wonder: “Who in the world lives here? / And why?” (Earth is seen as a distant blue marble.) Some of Ellis’ chosen depictions, oddly juxtaposed and stripped of any historical or cultural context due to the stylized design and spare text, become stereotypical. “Some homes are boats. / Some homes are wigwams.” A sailing ship’s crew seems poised to land near a trio of men clad in breechcloths—otherwise unidentified and unremarked upon.
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6529-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
An invitation to wonder, imagine and look at everything (humans included) in a new way.
A young boy sees things a little differently than others.
Noah can see patterns in the dust when it sparkles in the sunlight. And if he puts his nose to the ground, he can smell the “green tang of the ants in the grass.” His most favorite thing of all, however, is to read. Noah has endless curiosity about how and why things work. Books open the door to those answers. But there is one question the books do not explain. When the wind comes whistling by, where does it go? Noah decides to find out. In a chase that has a slight element of danger—wind, after all, is unpredictable—Noah runs down streets, across bridges, near a highway, until the wind lifts him off his feet. Cowman’s gusty wisps show each stream of air turning a different jewel tone, swirling all around. The ribbons gently bring Noah home, setting him down under the same thinking tree where he began. Did it really happen? Worthington’s sensitive exploration leaves readers with their own set of questions and perhaps gratitude for all types of perspective. An author’s note mentions children on the autism spectrum but widens to include all who feel a little different.
An invitation to wonder, imagine and look at everything (humans included) in a new way. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: April 14, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-60554-356-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Redleaf Lane
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2015
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