All that’s missing are the recipes.
William might live in the land of fairy tales, but he just wants to cook.
More interested in pastries than princesses, William’s tried plying his culinary trade around the fairy-tale kingdom. At the Brick House (run by the Three Pigs), “the menu was too dangerous” (think Pot-o’-Wolf Stew). At Three Bears Bistro, the customers were too picky about the food’s temperature. And his stint at Gingerbread-on-the-Go ended in a footrace with the cookies. Setting out to acquire ingredients to cook from home, he finds a box addressed to Fairy-Tale Headquarters containing apples, beans, and a pumpkin. He decides to spruce up their menu and cooks a delightful dish with each—but Judy at headquarters and the fairy-tale folk who’d ordered the original ingredients for their tales are aghast. After reading the book of fairy tales they send him away with, William rushes back to see what’s happened. Snow White passed out after eating every one of his delicious baked apples, but the prince kissed her awake, so all’s well there. Jack traded the yummy bean soup for the giant’s castle, so that’s ended well also. But what can Cinderella do with a pumpkin pie? It works out happily ever after for everyone, especially William. Klostermann’s triple-twisted tale is a cute concoction that children familiar with the traditional stories will enjoy. Mantle’s bright, cartoon illustrations pair neatly with the text and propel the story with whimsical sight gags and charm to spare. Save a passing giant and a few of the dwarves, all the human or humanoid characters are white (or green).
All that’s missing are the recipes. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-101-93232-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Emergent readers will like the humor in little Pip’s pointed requests, and more engaging adventures for Otto and Pip will be...
In his third beginning reader about Otto the robot, Milgrim (See Otto, 2002, etc.) introduces another new friend for Otto, a little mouse named Pip.
The simple plot involves a large balloon that Otto kindly shares with Pip after the mouse has a rather funny pointing attack. (Pip seems to be in that I-point-and-I-want-it phase common with one-year-olds.) The big purple balloon is large enough to carry Pip up and away over the clouds, until Pip runs into Zee the bee. (“Oops, there goes Pip.”) Otto flies a plane up to rescue Pip (“Hurry, Otto, Hurry”), but they crash (and splash) in front of some hippos with another big balloon, and the story ends as it begins, with a droll “See Pip point.” Milgrim again succeeds in the difficult challenge of creating a real, funny story with just a few simple words. His illustrations utilize lots of motion and basic geometric shapes with heavy black outlines, all against pastel backgrounds with text set in an extra-large typeface.
Emergent readers will like the humor in little Pip’s pointed requests, and more engaging adventures for Otto and Pip will be welcome additions to the limited selection of funny stories for children just beginning to read. (Easy reader. 5-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-689-85116-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2003
Appropriately bound in brown paper, this makes its profound point more directly than such like-themed tales as Marisabina...
Dedicated “to children everywhere sitting in cardboard boxes,” this elemental debut depicts a bunny with big, looping ears demonstrating to a rather thick, unseen questioner (“Are you still standing around in that box?”) that what might look like an ordinary carton is actually a race car, a mountain, a burning building, a spaceship or anything else the imagination might dream up.
Portis pairs each question and increasingly emphatic response with a playscape of Crockett Johnson–style simplicity, digitally drawn with single red and black lines against generally pale color fields.
Appropriately bound in brown paper, this makes its profound point more directly than such like-themed tales as Marisabina Russo’s Big Brown Box (2000) or Dana Kessimakis Smith’s Brave Spaceboy (2005). (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-112322-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2006
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