A “Casey at the Bat” for the hockey fan. Using the classic sports poem as a template, Sederman tells a contemporary nail-biter. There’s only a minute left to play in the big game between the Rockets and the Titans, with the Rockets trailing by one. Sitting on the bench, Derek and his brother Casey know that they can secure at least a tie for the Rockets. When the Titans unexpectedly call a time-out, Coach uses the opportunity to put the brothers in and change the game plan. Derek speeds down the side of the rink to take a shot; at the crucial moment, a Titan crashes into him. It means a penalty shot for the Rockets, a chance to tie the game. But Derek is too injured to take it; Casey swoops in to secure the tie. And in a tense overtime... Tight rhythms keep the story buoyant. Pullen’s oil paintings aptly complement the larger-than-life plot, the characters’ earnest faces canvasses for their emotions as they give the game their all. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-8118-5132-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2008
In a shelled, rubble-strewn city, women and children huddle indoors and wait—for the war to be over, for the men to come home, for the fear to end. When even the slight lift brought by the weekly arrival of relief supplies is taken away by the bombing of the delivery truck, irascible old Mr. O calmly steps out into the open and, despite the danger, sits down to play Bach on his magnificent cello. Cutler (’Gator Aid, p. 1131, etc.) has fashioned a simply told, powerfully evoked tale of music and courage; in somber watercolors lit by abstract swirls of color, Couch places the young narrator and her neighbor amidst shattered buildings beneath overcast skies. Not even the destruction of his cello stops Mr. O from continuing to deliver his gift; out of his pocket comes a harmonica, and the music soars again. Though the setting and characters have a modern, European look, neither locale nor enemy is specified, or, in fact, relevant. (Picture book. 6-9)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-525-46119-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Sure, Pecorino Sasquatch is silly. He has a silly name and he does traditionally silly things, such as wearing shorts in the cold. And sure, the storyline is silly: It stars a boy who attends his first concert with his mother, crawls into a tuba and gets stuck there until he’s blasted out by a long-mustached musician he’s just insulted on the bus. The language and character names are silly, too, and will delight readers who revel in wordplay—the indignant long-mustached man “fumphers,” and then becomes “furmuzzled.” Flutes sound like “Whistle, wassle, woooooo.” Perhaps the silliest and best twist of all is that in every spread, the reader can see a large raccoon accompanying Pecorino in his adventures, but the creature is never, ever mentioned, even as both of them are clearly flying out of the tuba. Cantone’s scritchy collage illustrations, accented with bits of cotton and small photographs, perfectly fun-mirror the eccentric, googly-eyed, huge-nosed, projectile-breasted characters that inhabit Pecorino’s silly, silly world. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: July 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-689-85952-X
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Anne Schwartz/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2005
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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