Standardized-test companies may want to hurl hairballs, but the loopy humor and silly kitty cast will have fans purring with...
How good is Bad Kitty at actually being a cat?
Bad Kitty loves birds, but when she climbs a tree to play with two of them, it ends in a disastrous fall from the treetops. She rethinks her opinion of birds. The incident triggers a letter from the Society of Cat Aptitude Management; her cat license is being revoked for a series of “shameful un-catlike embarrassments”—such as the time she “woke up suddenly and fell behind the sofa” or when she “tried to jump on the desk but landed in the plants.” Not to mention that time the dog sat on her head when she was asleep. According to SCAM, Kitty must take a special class and then pass a test to get her cat license back. Kitty is not amused. The next day, she joins Chatty Kitty, an odd-looking cat named Mittens (a chicken with fake cat ears), and Uncle Murray (who thinks he’s in class to renew his driver’s license) for a course taught by Strange Kitty. They watch a specious video created by the test makers, TestPro, full of oddball cat facts, before the first of many pretests begins. The final test (administered by a chicken) couldn’t be more surprising. Bruel’s obvious anti–standardized-test agenda doesn’t tarnish Bad Kitty’s appeal in her 10th chapter-book appearance.
Standardized-test companies may want to hurl hairballs, but the loopy humor and silly kitty cast will have fans purring with laughter. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 7-12)Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-62672-589-8
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Neal Porter/Roaring Brook
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An unusual insight into one aspect of the amazing adaptability of birds.
If you thought beaks were just for pecking, think again.
This picture book examines in piercing detail the astonishing adaptability of birds’ beaks. Twenty-one different birds from different parts of the world are illustrated to show the unique functions of each species’ beaks. The kiwi’s nostrils are located at the end of its beak to allow it to smell its food before ingesting it. The shoebill stork has a large, heavy beak ideal for crushing fish “or the occasional lizard or baby crocodile.” The common tailorbird can actually sew leaves together using spiderweb silk to make a nest, and the macaw uses its hooked beak to climb trees. The unbelievably cute Atlantic puffin uses its hinged beak (aided by spines inside its mouth) to hold a big mouthful of fish, and of course, most birds use their beaks to make their first entrance to the world out of the egg. Brightly colored collage close-ups of each bird’s head and beak adorn the spare, white pages, with brief text describing the function of each bird’s beak and a small vignette of the whole bird, showing how the bird uses its beak. A double-page diagram showing where the birds live and what they eat is included, but the maps are a bit small and unlabeled, requiring readers who are unfamiliar with world geography to seek out other sources. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at 50.1% of actual size.)
An unusual insight into one aspect of the amazing adaptability of birds. (bibliography, further reading) (Informational picture book. 7-12)Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5344-6041-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2020
Chalk up another treat for Korman fans.
Barney was legendary for appalling acts of canine depravity until his recent death; two kids—Zarabeth, his (one) mourner, and Keenan, her at-first-skeptical new friend—investigate his possible murder.
Keenan misses his cosmopolitan life in Shanghai, where his mom and stepdad teach at an international school. Recovering from tuberculosis at his dad’s house on tiny Centerlight Island, divided between the U.S. and Canada, is beyond boring until he meets Zarabeth, with Barney’s well-behaved (but sadly disdained) replacement and colorful tales of famous Prohibition-era gangsters attracted to the quiet island’s largely unguarded international border; Tommy-Gun Ferguson, who built her family’s house, might have hidden his gold bullion on the island. When Keenan, now well, proves popular at his new island school, Zarabeth feels isolated. Centrelight’s few Canadian kids must attend mainland schools via ferry. Not incidentally, the island’s more-numerous American kids resent contrarian Zarabeth’s stubborn advocacy for anything-but-lamented Barney. Now snubbed by Zarabeth, Keenan looks into Barney’s death to appease her—and finds her suspicions well founded. Like the island’s two spellings, Zarabeth’s cross-border observations wryly assert Canadian cultural identity. She and Keenan, both presumed white, alternate narration and are good company. Vivid secondary characters commit spontaneous acts of hilarious mayhem—the unscheduled school-lockdown drill is one standout—though Barney’s extreme depredations (like destroying a Porsche and a house porch in one go) occasionally strain credulity. Readers need to buy such pivotal plot points.
Chalk up another treat for Korman fans. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Dec. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-279886-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2019
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