Mix one part sentimentality, one part humor, several parts exaggeration—and, if the subject is baseball, you have a yam. And probably an audience. This tall-tale replay for minileaguers is about the worn blue mitt which Matt receives as a baby gift, holds onto through childhood though his parents try to substitute more presentable toys, and performs with later as the mitt continues to fit him and no one else. At last, in the tenth inning of the final game against the Yankees, his team, the North Dakota Beavers, wins the World Series with a triple-play, thanks to a spectacular catch by Matt—or was it the mitt? For "there are those who swear that when Matt could not leap up high enough to reach the ball, Matt's mitt left his hand and made the catch by itself." Now years later the two are still together in the Baseball Hall of Fame, where the retired player is both member and guide and his mitt rests in a case beside Babe Ruth's uniform. There's not a curve from beginning to end, but Hilary Knight's mugging figures do provide the obligatory action and Sachs' laconic telling a modicum of style.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1976
ISBN: 0385002602
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: May 8, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1976
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
With the same delightfully irreverent spirit that he brought to his retelling of "Little Red Riding Hood" (1987), Marshall enlivens another favorite. Although completely retold with his usual pungent wit and contemporary touches ("I don't mind if I do," says Goldilocks, as she tries out porridge, chair, and bed), Marshall retains the stories well-loved pattern, including Goldilocks escaping through the window (whereupon Baby Bear inquires, "Who was that little girl?"). The illustrations are fraught with delicious humor and detail: books that are stacked everywhere around the rather cluttered house, including some used in lieu of a missing leg for Papa Bear's chair; comically exaggerated beds—much too high at the head and the foot; and Baby Bear's wonderfully messy room, which certainly brings the story into the 20th century. Like its predecessor, perfect for several uses, from picture-book hour to beginning reading.
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1988
ISBN: 0140563660
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1988
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