by Lois Lowry & illustrated by Middy Thomas ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2005
The irrepressible second grader returns, as flamboyant as ever, to offer more outrageous outfits, “absolutely true” yarns and such useful vocabulary words as “ennui” and “underestimate.” All the while, she’s wangling the role of Squanto in the Thanksgiving Pageant by recruiting a mysterious Room Mother, and also helping her gentle teacher Mrs. Pidgeon keep a roomful of rambunctious classmates on task with the pageant preparations. Larger than life and with a heart as big as her personality, Gooney Bird Greene will elicit gales of laughter, along with sighs of appreciation, from Suzy Kline and Junie B. Jones fans—as well as their parents—in this second winning, tongue-in-cheek outing. (Fiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: April 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-618-53230-7
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Walter Lorraine/Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2005
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by Lois Lowry ; illustrated by Jonathan Stroh
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by Jackie French Koller ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1999
Koller (Bouncing on the Bed, p. 143, etc.) portrays a Narragansett nickommoh, or celebratory gathering, from which it is very likely the tradition of Thanksgiving was drawn. As explained in an exemplary note—brief, clear, interesting—at the end of the book, these gatherings occurred 13 times a year, once each lunar month. The harvest gathering is one of the larger gatherings: a great lodge was built, copious food was prepared, and music and dance extended deep into the night. Koller laces the text with a good selection of Narragansett words, found in the glossary (although there is no key to pronunciation, even for words such as Taqountikeeswush and Puttuckquapuonck). The text is written as a chanted prose poem, with much repetition, which can be both incantatory and hackneyed, as when “frost lies thick on the fields at dawn, and the winged ones pass overhead in great numbers.” Mostly the phrases are stirring—as are Sewall’s scratchboard evocations—and often inspirational—for this nickommoh puts to shame what has become known as the day before the launch of the holiday shopping season. (Picture book. 6-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-689-81094-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1999
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by Jackie French Koller & illustrated by John Manders
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by Jackie French Koller & illustrated by Lynn Munsinger
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by Jackie French Koller & illustrated by Jackie Urbanovic
by Fatima Shaik ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 1999
It is dawn on a day of street parties, and children are donning minimalist costumes (an underwater mask for a deep-sea diver, a cowboy hat to evoke a cowboy) so that “even those who love us must guess our identities.” Of course the children aren’t truly disguised: “I know you, Mardi Gras,” one friend calls from the sidewalk. By the fifth spread, readers understand that this is more than a children’s party; “Mardi Gras Indians live in our neighborhood,” and each emerges from “the door blinds of his small house like a spring flower opening.” Five of the double-page oil paintings are given over to actual parade scenes; the rest of the book features more domestic scenes of children in their homes and backyards during the long Mardi Gras day. The story is poetic, but puzzling to children new to the subject: Where is the story taking place? What are “Mardi Gras Indians,” and how to makes sense of the statement “A parade named Zulu will pass”? In read-aloud sessions, cover the author’s note in the back first, for a more succinct introduction to some of the customs of the New Orleans parade. Shaik’s narrative is deliberately child-centered, offering an insider’s view of the day but not quite succeeding in beckoning newcomers to it. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-8037-1442-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1999
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