On a class trip to the science museum’s Gross-Me-Out exhibit, Stink Moody’s skill at identifying smells earns him a new nickname, “The Nose,” and a chance to be the judge at a local stinky-sneakers contest. Fans of Judy Moody’s second-grade brother will be delighted by this third edition of his adventures, featuring familiar characters and plenty of new information about toilet water, corpse flowers and other smelly substances, as well as a surprising career opportunity. Who knew that NASA had a master sniffer? The narrative features plenty of banter between siblings and engaging language play. Short chapters, large type and Reynolds’s cheerful cartoon illustrations add to the appeal for the beginning readers but, like its predecessors, this should also be a popular read-aloud. (Fiction. 5-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-7636-2834-5
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2007
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The Russian-American team whose 1989 collaboration, Here Comes the Cat, was ``the first Soviet/American children's book'' elaborates the story of the town mouse and the country mouse, setting it within another story about two present-day mouse brothers fascinated by letters they find in the attic of their farmhouse. The correspondence, which they enjoy reading late at night in their bunk beds by flashlight, is between their great- great-grandfather and his brother, who had moved to the city. The letters tell how each brother gets engaged and then married; other mild adventures serve to contrast their lifestyles. Meanwhile, past and present are also compared—the older mice address each other with affection but more formality, while the younger ones trade casual insults despite their underlying friendship; the meticulously designed illustrations for the present are as crisp and bright as color photos, while the letters are enlivened with marginal illustrations in a more informal style. Nicely contrived to point out that people who lead very different lives can still care about one another, and that family history can be intriguing. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: March 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-590-43107-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1992
This hawk’s-eye view allows readers to circle over a small town during a year in which, at close inspection, apparently changeless streets and structures surrounded by flat horizons and “uninterrupted sky” yield up a host of stories, depicted in Lilliputian scale. Between one spring and the next, a carnival and a winter storm pass through, a house is trucked in whole, another is rebuilt after a fire, yards are cleaned, a wedding celebrated, a new tombstone placed in the cemetery, a jungle gym built on the playground behind the red brick school. Geisert uses ink and watercolor to achieve slightly finer detail than found in his etchings, in pictures that richly repay close inspection (but may not reward those seeking out his trademark pigs). However, the caption-like text can be eye-glazing and oddly phrased: “The town and its farm neighbors are economic and social partners. They provide goods and services for each other. The back yard is a favorite place where families extend their work and play.” Still, the Geiserts observe and evoke the pace and rhythms of life in a prairie town with abundant affection. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: March 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-395-85907-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1998
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