THE OLD WOMAN WHO LIVED IN A VINEGAR BOTTLE

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THE OLD WOMAN WHO LIVED IN A VINEGAR BOTTLE

Name: THE OLD WOMAN WHO LIVED IN A VINEGAR BOTTLE
Author: Margaret Read MacDonald
ISBN: 0-87483-415-5

A BRITISH FAIRY TALE

adapted by Margaret Read MacDonald & illustrated by Nancy Fowlkes Dunaway ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1995

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This fluent British version of ``The Fisherman and His Wife'' features only two characters: a discontented old woman living in an uncommonly large vinegar bottle, and an obliging fairy who provides her with increasingly palatial housingbut sends her back where she came from when she demands to be Empress of the Universe. MacDonald (The Storyteller's Sourcebook, 1982, etc.) is in fine form, preceding the tale with a learned discussion of variants and other editions, and then rendering it in a rapid, comic style``But when the fairy came near/there sat the old woman . . . complaining./`Oh what a pity!/What a pity pity pity!' '' Fowlkes's illustrations, in reds, yellows, and purples, spill energetically from their wide frames, centering on the old woman's determinedand in the end, chagrinedcountenance, every bit of space crammed with pattern and color. Excellent for reading aloud or alone. (Picture book/folklore. 7-10)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1995

ISBN: 0-87483-415-5

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Little Folk/August House

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1995

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

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TOUGH TUG
by Margaret Read MacDonald ; illustrated by Rob McClurkan

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BYE BYE BIG!
by Margaret Read MacDonald & Gerald Fierst ; illustrated by Kitty Harvill

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THE WISHING FOXES
by Margaret Read MacDonald with Jen Whitman & Nat Whitman ; illustrated by Kitty Harvill

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BOOKMARKS ARE PEOPLE TOO!

From the Here's Hank series , Vol. 1

by Henry Winkler ; Lin Oliver ; illustrated by Scott Garrett ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 14, 2014

An uncomplicated opener, with some funny bits and a clear but not heavy agenda.

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Hank Zipzer, poster boy for dyslexic middle graders everywhere, stars in a new prequel series highlighting second-grade trials and triumphs.

Hank’s hopes of playing Aqua Fly, a comic-book character, in the upcoming class play founder when, despite plenty of coaching and preparation, he freezes up during tryouts. He is not particularly comforted when his sympathetic teacher adds a nonspeaking role as a bookmark to the play just for him. Following the pattern laid down in his previous appearances as an older child, he gets plenty of help and support from understanding friends (including Ashley Wong, a new apartment-house neighbor). He even manages to turn lemons into lemonade with a quick bit of improv when Nick “the Tick” McKelty, the sneering classmate who took his preferred role, blanks on his lines during the performance. As the aforementioned bully not only chokes in the clutch and gets a demeaning nickname, but is fat, boastful and eats like a pig, the authors’ sensitivity is rather one-sided. Still, Hank has a winning way of bouncing back from adversity, and like the frequent black-and-white line-and-wash drawings, the typeface is designed with easy legibility in mind.

An uncomplicated opener, with some funny bits and a clear but not heavy agenda. (Fiction. 7-9)

Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2014

ISBN: 978-0-448-48239-2

Page Count: 128

Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap

Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2014

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
THE CASE OF THE STRANGE SPLASH
by Henry Winkler & Lin Oliver ; illustrated by Dan Santat

- BOOK REVIEW
HOLLYWOOD VS. THE GALAXY
by Henry Winkler & Lin Oliver ; illustrated by Ethan Nicolle

- BOOK REVIEW
LIGHTS, CAMERA, DANGER!
by Henry Winkler & Lin Oliver

CHARLIE BUMPERS VS. THE TEACHER OF THE YEAR

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CHARLIE BUMPERS VS. THE TEACHER OF THE YEAR

From the Charlie Bumpers series , Vol. 1

by Bill Harley ; illustrated by Adam Gustavson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2013

Readers will be waiting to see how Charlie faces his next challenge in a series that marks a lovely change of pace from the...

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Charlie Bumpers is doomed. The one teacher he never wanted in the whole school turns out to be his fourth-grade teacher.

Charlie recalls third grade, when he accidentally hit the scariest teacher in the whole school with his sneaker. “I know all about you, Charlie Bumpers,” she says menacingly on the first day of fourth grade. Now, in addition to all the hardships of starting school, he has gotten off on the wrong foot with her. Charlie’s dry and dramatic narrative voice clearly reveals the inner life of a 9-year-old—the glass is always half empty, especially in light of a series of well-intentioned events gone awry. It’s quite a litany: “Hitting Mrs. Burke in the head with the sneaker. The messy desk. The swinging on the door. The toilet paper. And now this—the shoe on the roof.” Harley has teamed once again with illustrator Gustavson (Lost and Found, 2012) to create a real-life world in which a likable kid must face the everyday terrors of childhood: enormous bullies, looming teachers and thick gym coaches with huge pointing fingers. Into this series opener, Harley magically weaves the simple lesson that people, even teachers, can surprise you.

Readers will be waiting to see how Charlie faces his next challenge in a series that marks a lovely change of pace from the sarcasm of Wimpy Kid. (Fiction. 7-10)