Even a brush with death (or a bad tooth) can’t reform this Bad Kitty. Good thing. We’d miss her! (Graphic/nonfiction hybrid....
Bad Kitty isn’t eating? It must be a sign of the apocalypse…or worse.
Bad Kitty once ate a meatloaf the size of a car in 5 minutes, so if she’s not eating, something must be horribly wrong. It’s time for a visit to the vet—wait, where’d Bad Kitty go? First task: find the kitty. Then don the riot gear to get her into her cat carrier. When the vet (who knows just how to handle her) knocks Bad Kitty out with a shot, she visits the (kitty) Pearly Gates, where the feline St. Peter tells her she tormented Puppy too much to pass through. She’s given one day to do something nice for Puppy, or she will be sent to Puppydog Paradise (which is far from idyllic for cats). Can Bad Kitty rescue her afterlife with a kind act for her drooling nemesis? Is it all just a dream? After the homage to Looney Tunes that was Bad Kitty Drawn to Trouble (2014), Bruel gives an appreciative nod to Tom and Jerry; it’s a lagniappe that Bad Kitty’s mobs of young fans may not notice, though their adults will probably get a few chuckles. Kids will just enjoy Uncle Murray’s fun facts (all about cat health and visits to the vet this time, of course) and Bad Kitty’s ornery behavior; both are as entertaining as ever.
Even a brush with death (or a bad tooth) can’t reform this Bad Kitty. Good thing. We’d miss her! (Graphic/nonfiction hybrid. 7-10)Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-59643-977-1
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Neal Porter/Roaring Brook
Review Posted Online: Oct. 5, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
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BOOK REVIEW
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BOOK TO SCREEN
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look...
Winning actually isn’t everything, as jazz-happy Rooster learns when he goes up against the legendary likes of Mules Davis and Ella Finchgerald at the barnyard talent show.
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look good—particularly after his “ ‘Hen from Ipanema’ [makes] / the barnyard chickies swoon.”—but in the end the competition is just too stiff. No matter: A compliment from cool Mules and the conviction that he still has the world’s best band soon puts the strut back in his stride. Alexander’s versifying isn’t always in tune (“So, he went to see his cousin, / a pianist of great fame…”), and despite his moniker Rooster plays an electric bass in Bower’s canted country scenes. Children are unlikely to get most of the jokes liberally sprinkled through the text, of course, so the adults sharing it with them should be ready to consult the backmatter, which consists of closing notes on jazz’s instruments, history and best-known musicians.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-58536-688-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
A feel-good tale of a clever and determined stallion set against a well-developed landscape.
In mid-19th-century Nevada, a colt named Sky grows up to lead his band of wild horses.
Parry’s moving story follows the pattern of her recent animal tales, A Wolf Called Wander (2019) and A Whale of the Wild (2020), chronicling a wild animal’s life in the first person, imagining its point of view, and detailing and appreciating the natural world it inhabits. As Sky grows from wobbly newborn to leader of his family, he faces more than the usual challenges for colts who must fight their stallions or leave their herds when they are grown up. Fagan’s appealing black-and-white illustrations help readers envision this survival story. Sky’s adventures include forced service with the Pony Express; being befriended by an enslaved Paiute boy; escaping to find his now-captured band; and helping them escape the silver miners who’d destroyed their world. Animal lovers will applaud his ingenuity and stubbornness. Although Sky’s band has suffered serious injuries (his mother is blind), he and Storm, a mare who was his childhood companion, lead them toward safety in a new wilderness. The writer’s admiration for these wild horses and her concerns about human destruction of their environment come through even more clearly in a series of concluding expository essays discussing the wild horses, the Indigenous Americans, the natural history of the Great Basin, silver mining, and the Pony Express.
A feel-good tale of a clever and determined stallion set against a well-developed landscape. (author’s note, resources) (Fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: Aug. 29, 2023
ISBN: 9780062995957
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2023
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