by Pablo Bernasconi & illustrated by Pablo Bernasconi ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2005
Bernasconi’s idiosyncratic paint-and-collage illustrations turn his take on the “Sorcerer’s Apprentice” into something strange and wild. Humiliated by his ugliness, Chancery opens his master’s magic book in search of a fix—whereupon the spells all fly out. He stuffs them back in higgledy-piggledy. When his remarkably patient master discovers the hard way that they no longer work, he tells his assistant that the only way to restore them is to solve his own problem without magic, by “defeating the mirror.” Against spattered or faintly patterned backgrounds, Bernasconi scatters clipped photos, cut-out words and assembled, almost abstract figures—of which Chancery, with his square head, mottled gray-blue skin, mismatched eyes and severe underbite, is the most misshapen. Ultimately, sporting a makeover and a set of hugely over-enlarged human teeth, he discovers that smiles dispel, or at least conceal, ugly features. A worthy theme, delivered with arty, overdone exuberance. Some may enjoy it. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2005
ISBN: 1-58234-673-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2005
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by Shirley Redmond & illustrated by Simon Sullivan ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2004
This easy reader for children reading at the fluency level recounts the story of a girl named Mary Ann Anning and her dog, Tray. They lived on the coast of England in the early 1800s, although the time frame is given only as “a long, long time ago.” Mary Ann and Tray became famous for their discoveries of fossils, including dinosaur bones. They discovered the first pterodactyl found in England, and the name was assigned to their fossil. The story focuses a little too much on the dog, and the title misses a great opportunity to completely acknowledge a girl accomplishing something important in the scientific world, especially in a much earlier era and without formal training or education. Despite this drawback, both Mary Ann and Tray are appealing characters and the discovery of the fossils and subsequent notice from scientists, collectors, and even royalty is appealing and well written. Sullivan’s illustrations provide intriguing period details in costumes, tools, and buildings, as well as a clever front endpaper of fossil-strewn ground covered with muddy paw prints. (Easy reader. 6-8)
Pub Date: July 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-689-85708-X
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2004
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by Dominic Walliman ; illustrated by Ben Newman ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 4, 2018
Energetic enough to carry younger rocketeers off the launch pad if not into a very high orbit.
The bubble-helmeted feline explains what rockets do and the role they have played in sending people (and animals) into space.
Addressing a somewhat younger audience than in previous outings (Professor Astro Cat’s Frontiers of Space, 2013, etc.), Astro Cat dispenses with all but a light shower of “factoroids” to describe how rockets work. A highly selective “History of Space Travel” follows—beginning with a crew of fruit flies sent aloft in 1947, later the dog Laika (her dismal fate left unmentioned), and the human Yuri Gagarin. Then it’s on to Apollo 11 in 1969; the space shuttles Discovery, Columbia, and Challenger (the fates of the latter two likewise elided); the promise of NASA’s next-gen Orion and the Space Launch System; and finally vague closing references to other rockets in the works for local tourism and, eventually, interstellar travel. In the illustrations the spacesuited professor, joined by a mouse and cat in similar dress, do little except float in space and point at things. Still, the art has a stylish retro look, and portraits of Sally Ride and Guion Bluford diversify an otherwise all-white, all-male astronaut corps posing heroically or riding blocky, geometric spacecraft across starry reaches.
Energetic enough to carry younger rocketeers off the launch pad if not into a very high orbit. (glossary) (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-911171-55-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Flying Eye Books
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
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by Dominic Walliman ; illustrated by Ben Newman
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