Nine-year-old Roxie Warbler knows a lot about dangers and pitfalls and how to overcome them; she is the niece of Uncle Dangerfoot, the sidekick of Lord Thistlebottom, the world-famous adventurer and author. But, though she has memorized the survival tips, she is a fearful little girl, afraid of thunder and lightning, floods and tornadoes and the gang of mean kids at school. Helvetia’s Hooligans are merciless in their assessment of Roxanne’s oversized ears. When Roxie ends up in a dumpster on her way out to sea with the Hooligans, she has to dig deep into her bag of survival tricks. In this genial melodrama, young readers will cheer for Roxie as she learns, above all, not to panic. With the help of her kind and attentive friend Norman, Roxie saves the day, makes friends with the Hooligans and captures the bank robbers! Uncle Dangerfoot and Lord Thistlebottom could not be prouder. Three cheers—and some gingersnaps and lemonade—for Roxie, the girl who does not panic. Jolly fun. (Fiction. 7-10)
Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 1-4169-0243-0
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2006
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
From levitating frogs to giant vegetables that take wing, Wiesner resuscitates his fondness for flying in another stretch of his imagination. In a wordless story told through picture panels and murals, a young boy is overtaken by fog on a class field trip to the top of the Empire State Building. He befriends a snowmanlike cloud who dons the boy’s red cap and scarf and wings him to an ominous factory in the sky. Dubbed Sector 7, this imposing, industrial hunk of machinery is a Grand Central Station for clouds, from which they’re all dispatched. The boy learns that clouds can freely take on various shapes, and soon has them twisting and stretching themselves into fish, to the dismay of the grim, uniformed workers. In a showy display, the clouds invade Manhattan, surprising cats at windows and children below. Wiesner’s fans will rediscover all his favorite motifs—dreams overlapping reality, metamorphosing creatures, and more—rendered in precise watercolors with tilted perspectives. Others will find themselves scratching their heads as to his purpose, other than indulging in elliptical displays and in pointlessly defying convention. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-395-74656-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1999
McCurdy (The Old Man and the Fiddle, 1992, etc.) switches from his familiar woodcut style to realistic paintings of landscapes, ice, and ocean in a retelling of Sir Ernest Shackleton's famous expedition. It was 1915 when, during Shackleton's attempt to cross the polar ice cap, the Endurance became trapped in ice, soon to be crushed and sunk. McCurdy covers the desperate problems faced by the crew: how to survive without the ship; how to find food while they waited for open water; how they saved a sleeping crewman when their solid perch cracked in two during the night. Frightening voyages in lifeboats and a near-impossible climb on a snow-covered mountain are part of the story; a party of three makes it to a whaling station on South Georgia Island, and no men are lost. The telling is clear and laced with excellent detail, but the picture-book format is less than ideal, requiring an author's note, foreword, and afterword for many of the details; further, the older audience for which the material has the most appeal may be uncomfortable with the format. Although McCurdy's galvanizing enthusiasm comes across on every page, the pictures- -and the bleak, unchanging landscape—don't communicate the cold nor the toll that time and the elements took on the men's clothing and faces. Still, aspects of this are riveting, and it will certainly lead readers into longer, more detailed accounts of this two-year expedition. (map, bibliography, index) (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-10)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-8027-8438-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Walker
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1997
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
