Harris’s tale offers a swashbuckling adventure with a twist. Good boy Tom is lured to the buccaneer life by a collection of little girl pirates who arrive to steal away the façade of his house one evening—think stealth attacks and Trojan Horse tactics. He joins the courageous cuties as they set out to pilfer the treasure of the dastardly Captain Patch. Harris’s tale of derring-do hits just the right note for pint-sized pirates; there’s lots of suspense but very little fearsome action, even when the tots seize the bounty from the grown-up, yet cowardly band of Patch’s men. Harris imbues the narrative with a jaunty rhythm that will hold readers’ attention for the duration of the tale. Allwright’s collage-style illustrations are awash in the hues of the night, where midnight blue skies give way to lavender tints of moonlit sands. Her crew of feminine pirates is too cute to be intimidating, and Patch’s men are comical caricatures of bumbling buffoons, too silly to fear. Pirate fans of both sexes will enjoy this rollicking, high-seas caper. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-439-79959-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006
BOOK REVIEW
A brassy, assertive fellow—young readers in the middle of their own power struggles will relate.
A tugboat’s size and might are easy to anthropomorphize; add this personified puffer to the mix.
Tough Tug is built near Seattle, made of strong steel welded together and adorned with a fresh coat of bright red paint. Wide googly eyes and a determined smile complete the look. On launch day, Tough Tug triumphantly flashes forward and backward, twirling and swirling through the water. Older tugboats (distinguished variously by mustaches, glasses, and eye patches) grumble at the youngster’s bravado. “Push and pull is what tugs do. Practice THAT.” Tough Tug’s first job is to tow a barge to Alaska. Rhythmic mantras churn across the surface of the water in bold navy letters: “Ready, steady. / Steady, ready. // Chug and tug. / Tug and chug.” But Tough Tug is overeager and challenges Arctic Tug to a race. The thrum changes to “Race and run! / Run and race!” Arctic Tug is first to Sitka, but while crossing the open ocean to Anchorage, the older tug gets into trouble. It’s Tough Tug to the rescue! McClurkan’s digital paintings look quite modern, but there is a feel to his foamy waves that recalls the mid-20th-century harbor of Little Toot. The anthropomorphized boats have plenty of personality, and readers who study the expressions on the container ships will be rewarded. An author’s note explains this was inspired by a true story of one tug rescuing another boat from a competing tugboat company.
A brassy, assertive fellow—young readers in the middle of their own power struggles will relate. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: March 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5039-5098-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Two Lions
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018
An innocuous telling, sure to slip in effortlessly with other firetruck books.
A little fire engine discovers what it’s good at by eliminating what it is not.
Who knew disappointment could be such a keen teaching tool? Narrator Flash is eager to demonstrate firefighting prowess, but every attempt to “save the day” yields bubkes. First Flash is too little to handle a fire at the airport (Crash, an airport crash tender, handles that one). Next Flash is too short to help a tall building that’s on fire (that honor goes to Laddie, a turntable ladder). Finally, an airplane and a foam tender together solve a forest-fire problem. Only when a bridge is suddenly blocked by snow, with all the other trucks on the wrong side of it, does Flash have the opportunity to save a pet shelter that’s ablaze. (Readers will note characters in shirtsleeves at the beginning of the book, so this is a very unexpected snowstorm.) Calvert deftly finds a new way to introduce kids to different kinds of firefighting vehicles by setting up Flash in opposition to situations where it’s just not the best truck for the job. The anthropomorphized engines and planes irritatingly include unnecessary eyelashes on trucks with feminine pronouns, but this is mitigated by the fact that the girls get cool names like “Crash” and save the day first. Enthusiastic if unremarkable digital art presents both firefighters and citizens in an array of genders and races.
An innocuous telling, sure to slip in effortlessly with other firetruck books. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5420-4178-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Two Lions
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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