Another amusing visit with Anastasia Krupnik, new 12 and in desperate need of money (for what is not said). So Anastasia advertises herself as a companion—but, to her horror, the rich old lady who hires her puts her to work as a maid instead. And as site mangles a spoon in the disposal on the first day, she can't quit until she's paid off its $35.00 value in labor. (As Mrs. Bellingham, her employer, refers to the incident as a "debacle," Anastasia believes throughout the story that she is paying for a mangled "bockle.") But during her service Anastasia becomes friends with Mrs. Bellingham's rebellious granddaughter Daphne, and together they plot revenge on the old lady: Daphne steals a pile of leftover invitations to her grandmother's upcoming charity bash and sends them to a few of the town's outcasts and underprivileged. The girls repent too late, on learning that the charity is the children's hospital in which Anastasia's little brother has just been a patient—and then try desperately, with the predictable hilarious results, to spot the undesirables and remove them from the party. After Daphne mistakenly asks the mayor to leave, Mrs. Bellingham questions the girls and concludes: "Surely it is apparent by new that those people, whatever their problems, know how to behave ata party.' Along with a Roots trip Anastasia takes with her father to the poor-but-charming (new Italian) Boston neighborhood where he grew up, it all goes to inculcate in Anastasia some corny and unexamined American myths. But as Lowry uses these egalitarian lessons to anchor the story, not vice versa, readers won't feel manipulated.
Pub Date: Oct. 25, 1982
ISBN: 0440402905
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1982
Little Blue Truck keeps on truckin’—but not without some backfires.
Little Blue Truck feels, well, blue when he delivers valentine after valentine but receives nary a one.
His bed overflowing with cards, Blue sets out to deliver a yellow card with purple polka dots and a shiny purple heart to Hen, one with a shiny fuchsia heart to Pig, a big, shiny, red heart-shaped card to Horse, and so on. With each delivery there is an exchange of Beeps from Blue and the appropriate animal sounds from his friends, Blue’s Beeps always set in blue and the animal’s vocalization in a color that matches the card it receives. But as Blue heads home, his deliveries complete, his headlight eyes are sad and his front bumper droops ever so slightly. Blue is therefore surprised (but readers may not be) when he pulls into his garage to be greeted by all his friends with a shiny blue valentine just for him. In this, Blue’s seventh outing, it’s not just the sturdy protagonist that seems to be wilting. Schertle’s verse, usually reliable, stumbles more than once; stanzas such as “But Valentine’s Day / didn’t seem much fun / when he didn’t get cards / from anyone” will cause hitches during read-alouds. The illustrations, done by Joseph in the style of original series collaborator Jill McElmurry, are pleasant enough, but his compositions often feel stiff and forced.
Little Blue Truck keeps on truckin’—but not without some backfires. (Board book. 1-4)Pub Date: Dec. 8, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-358-27244-1
Page Count: 20
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Safe to creep on by.
Carle’s famous caterpillar expresses its love.
In three sentences that stretch out over most of the book’s 32 pages, the (here, at least) not-so-ravenous larva first describes the object of its love, then describes how that loved one makes it feel before concluding, “That’s why… / I[heart]U.” There is little original in either visual or textual content, much of it mined from The Very Hungry Caterpillar. “You are… / …so sweet,” proclaims the caterpillar as it crawls through the hole it’s munched in a strawberry; “…the cherry on my cake,” it says as it perches on the familiar square of chocolate cake; “…the apple of my eye,” it announces as it emerges from an apple. Images familiar from other works join the smiling sun that shone down on the caterpillar as it delivers assurances that “you make… / …the sun shine brighter / …the stars sparkle,” and so on. The book is small, only 7 inches high and 5 ¾ inches across when closed—probably not coincidentally about the size of a greeting card. While generations of children have grown up with the ravenous caterpillar, this collection of Carle imagery and platitudinous sentiment has little of his classic’s charm. The melding of Carle’s caterpillar with Robert Indiana’s iconic LOVE on the book’s cover, alas, draws further attention to its derivative nature.
Safe to creep on by. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Dec. 15, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-448-48932-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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