by Margot Apple ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1999
Apple turns from the exploits of Nancy Shaw’s exuberant sheep (Sheep Take a Hike, 1994, etc.) to a quieter bedtime tale about a young girl facing her fears in the dark. Martha is very brave each night at bedtime when her cat Sophie goes first down the hall and checks “all the creepy places,” including under the bed. The nightly ritual is disrupted one evening when company comes, and they bring their dog. When Martha can’t find Sophie at bedtime, she’s startled by her coonskin cap and by Owl, a wild-thing stuffed animal. Forced to confront her fears on her own, Martha is greatly relieved when the “scritcha, scritcha, scritch” she hears proves to be Sophie, hiding in the dresser drawer. The comfortable pencil and watercolor drawings, making deliberate or accidental homage to Sendak’s Really Rosie, lend a nostalgic flavor to this age-old bedtime dilemma. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-395-59422-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1999
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by Gail Gibbons ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 15, 1999
Gibbons’s 100th book is devoted to presenting swine in a positive light; she quickly demystifies the stereotypes that cast pigs as smelly, dirty, greedy, and dull. Descended and domesticated from the wild boar, pigs come in hundreds of varieties, colors, shapes, and sizes; in simple language, the book outlines their characteristics, breeds, intelligence, communication, habits, and uses. The author distinguishes the various terms—hog, swine, gilt, sow, boar—while also explaining the act of wallowing in mud. The bulk of the text is characteristically factual, but Gibbons allows herself an opinion or two: “They are cute and lovable with their curly tails, their flat pink snouts and their noisy squeals and grunts.” Pen-and-watercolor drawings show sprightly pigs and a plethora of pink-cheeked children in tranquil farm scenes. (Picture book/nonfiction. 4-8)
Pub Date: March 15, 1999
ISBN: 0-8234-1441-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1999
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by David McPhail & illustrated by David McPhail ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1999
Big Brown Bear, with a natty bowler hat, is all set to paint the house in this cheerful Level 1 reader. Every page presents a full-color scene and a few words of easily predicted, often rhyming text: “Bear is big. Bear is brown. Bear goes up. He comes down.” Big Bear climbs a ladder with a pail of blue paint, while nearby, Little Bear plays with a ball and bat—“Oh no! Little Bear! Do not do that!” These are simple words, but sometimes challenging ones, e.g., there are two uses of up, as in climbing the ladder and washing up. The pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations provide nearly ideal context, while also amplifying the story. The format is attractive and practical, featuring large type on a white background that is placed for easy reading. Beginning readers will be amused by the gentle humor in the book, and feel accomplished to have tackled it themselves. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-15-201999-5
Page Count: 20
Publisher: Green Light/Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1999
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