Stink returns to battle arachnophobia.
Judy Moody’s little brother, Stink, returns for another scientific adventure, this time battling his long-held fear of spiders. After crafting a jumping origami frog, Stink brings his project to the backyard to give it a test hop. Stink’s frog leaps out of sight, and while looking for it, Stink comes across a hairy, pink-toed spider. A timorous Stink seeks out Judy’s help to find his origami frog, and Judy does him one better: The siblings put in the work to cure Stink of his fear. Those familiar with the Judy Moody and Stink books will find more of the same here, with Reynolds’ broad, round illustrations accompanying McDonald’s charmingly optimistic characters. Newcomers will be able to slide in with ease; there’s no extensive backstory here to wade through—just some quirky kids dealing with a common fear. The reading level is pitched to those just beginning to dip their toes in the chapter-book pool. Judy and Stink are white, but there’s a bit of diversity in the supporting cast. The book includes origami instructions in its end pages.
More of the same, but here that’s a good thing. (Fiction. 7-11)Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0920-4
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2020
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Two shelter cats take on a mysterious puss with weird powers who is terrorizing the feline community.
Hardly have timorous (and aptly named) Poop and her sophisticated buddy, Pasha, been brought home by their new “human beans” for a two-week trial than they are accosted by fiery-eyed Scaredy Cat, utterly trashing the kitchen with a click of his claws and, hissing that he’s in charge of the neighborhood, threatening that if they don’t act like proper cats—disdaining ordinary cat food and any summons (they are not dogs, after all), clawing the furniture instead of the scratching post, and showing like “cattitude”—it’ll be back to the shelter for them. Will Poop and Pasha prove to be fraidycats or flee to the cowed clowder of homeless cats hiding from the bully in the nearby woods? Nope, they are made of sterner stuff and resolutely set out to enlist feline allies in a “quest for life, liberty, and the pursuit of purrs!” Cast into a gazillion very short chapters related by furry narrators Poop and Pasha, who are helpfully depicted in portrait vignettes by Herzog at each chapter’s head, the ensuing adventures test the defiant kitties’ courage (and, in some cases, attention spans) on the way to a spooky but poignant climax set, appropriately enough as it happens, in a pet graveyard.
A-mew-sing fare for readers who sometimes feel like fraidycats themselves. (Adventure. 9-11)Pub Date: March 15, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-316-49443-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Jimmy Patterson/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S ACTION & ADVENTURE FICTION
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The foursome of reformed villains returns with a new mission and new team member in a continued effort to repair their reputations in Blabey's (The Bad Guys, 2017) rollicking sequel.
This second installment opens with our would-be heroes, Mr. Wolf, Mr. Snake, Mr. Shark, and Mr. Piranha, fresh from their bold liberation of the local pound, finding that the media is not spinning in their favor. Accused of terrorizing rather than rescuing, the group (at least Mr. Wolf) refuses to admit defeat—"We're the GOOD GUYS here!"—and begins planning a new mission to free innocent chickens from their deplorable confinement in the Sunnyside Chicken Farm. But if the team can't work together—something all the more difficult with the team a little panicked by the addition of Legs (a friendly, tech-genius tarantula) and one of the group suspiciously excited to greet the chickens—a rescue mission may be all but impossible. Despite some language devaluing of mental diversity (“freak out,” “loco,” etc.) that may turn some readers off, Blabey once again deploys moral ambiguity to overall success, challenging fear as a justification for prejudice and mistakes as reasons to give up. The narrative has lost no comic momentum from first to second book, juxtaposing classic riffs on Mission Impossible and new visual gags unique to these delightfully wry characters.
Another uproarious romp that explores what it is to be good as well as do good. (Fiction. 7-11)Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-545-91241-9
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2016
Categories: CHILDREN'S ACTION & ADVENTURE FICTION | CHILDREN'S ANIMALS
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