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WAKE THE DEAD

Name: WAKE THE DEAD
Author: Monica A. Harris
ISBN: 0-8027-8922-6

by Monica A. Harris & illustrated by Susan Estelle Kwas ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 15, 2004

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Readers unable to absorb pun-ishment, beware! Rambunctious young Henry ignores warnings that his noise will wake the dead—until it does just that. Rising from the local cemetery, a band of irritated corpses goes in search of the racket’s source. Is it the library? No, only dead silence there. The Mayor’s office? Nothing there but skeletons in the closet. The Dead Letter Office? Nope. Relentlessly giving every conceivable expression involving death a literal turn, Harris sends the searchers—portrayed in Kwas’s cartoon illustrations as shrouded but unfrightening figures with peanut-shaped heads—from swimming pool (“A boneheaded idea, since they were dead in the water”) to the park where they’re set to “work their fingers to the bone pushing up daisies.” At last they catch up with Henry, who tries to put them back down with games (“Kick the Bucket”), races (ending in a dead heat), and dance music (“Staying Alive”)—but in the end, it’s a good, old-fashioned bedtime story (Goodnight Goon) that does the trick. A dead cinch for storytime. (Picture book. 6-9)

Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2004

ISBN: 0-8027-8922-6

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Walker

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2004

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

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GOONEY BIRD GREENE

by Lois Lowry & illustrated by Middy Thomas ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2002

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Gooney Bird Greene (with a silent E) is not your average second grader. She arrives in Mrs. Pidgeon’s class announcing: “I’m your new student and I just moved here from China. I want a desk right smack in the middle of the room, because I like to be right smack in the middle of everything.” Everything about her is unusual and mysterious—her clothes, hairstyles, even her lunches. Since the second graders have never met anyone like Gooney Bird, they want to hear more about her. Mrs. Pidgeon has been talking to the class about what makes a good story, so it stands to reason that Gooney will get her chance. She tells a series of stories that explain her name, how she came from China on a flying carpet, how she got diamond earrings at the prince’s palace, and why she was late for school (because she was directing a symphony orchestra). And her stories are “absolutely true.” Actually, they are explainable and mesh precisely with the teacher’s lesson, more important, they are a clever device that exemplify the elements of good storytelling and writing and also demonstrate how everyone can turn everyday events into stories. Savvy teachers should take note and add this to their shelf of “how a story is made” titles. Gooney Bird’s stories are printed in larger type than the narrative and the black-and-white drawings add the right touch of sauciness (only the cover is in color). A hybrid of Harriet, Blossom, and Anastasia, irrepressible Gooney Bird is that rare bird in children’s fiction: one that instantly becomes an amusing and popular favorite. (Fiction. 6-9)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2002

ISBN: 0-618-23848-4

Page Count: 96

Publisher: Walter Lorraine/Houghton Mifflin

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2002

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
TREE. TABLE. BOOK.
by Lois Lowry

- BOOK REVIEW
THE WINDEBY PUZZLE
by Lois Lowry ; illustrated by Jonathan Stroh

- BOOK REVIEW
THE WILLOUGHBYS RETURN
by Lois Lowry

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RIVER STORY

by Meredith Hooper & illustrated by Bee Willey ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 2000

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Trickling, bubbling, swirling, rushing, a river flows down from its mountain beginnings, past peaceful country and bustling city on its way to the sea. Hooper (The Drop in My Drink, 1998, etc.) artfully evokes the water’s changing character as it transforms from “milky-cold / rattling-bold” to a wide, slow “sliding past mudflats / looping through marshes” to the end of its journey. Willey, best known for illustrating Geraldine McCaughrean’s spectacular folk-tale collections, contributes finely detailed scenes crafted in shimmering, intricate blues and greens, capturing mountain’s chill, the bucolic serenity of passing pastures, and a sense of mystery in the water’s shadowy depths. Though Hooper refers to “the cans and cartons / and bits of old wood” being swept along, there’s no direct conservation agenda here (for that, see Debby Atwell’s River, 1999), just appreciation for the river’s beauty and being. (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-9)