by P.J. Petersen ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2000
embarrassing situation after another.
Previously met in I Hate Camping (1991) and I Hate Company (1994), young Dan goes from pillar to post when he’s asked
to be Best Man at his father’s second wedding. His determination to make a good impression on Joan, his father’s wife-to-be and herself a divorced mother of two, nearly founders on a string of mischances, from ill-timed kitchen messes to a disastrous late-night sortie for pizza with Riley, his prospective younger stepbrother. In the end, Dan’s mixed feelings, fueled by the gnawing fear that his father will no longer have time for him, are skillfully allayed, and he surreptitiously saves the day when Riley’s tarantula, Melvin, escapes during the ceremony. The characters, including the adults, are drawn in low but distinct relief, emotional issues are laid out without being overanalyzed, and readers will wince in sympathy as Dan finds himself in one
embarrassing situation after another. (illustrations, not seen) (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: April 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-525-46327-5
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2000
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by P.J. Petersen & illustrated by Meredith Johnson
illustrated by Rachel Fuller ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 2010
One of a four-book series designed to help the very young prepare for new siblings, this title presents a toddler-and-mother pair (the latter heavily pregnant) as they read about new babies, sort hand-me-downs, buy new toys, visit the obstetrician and the sonographer, speculate and wait. Throughout, the child asks questions and makes exclamations with complete enthusiasm: “How big is the baby? What does it eat? I felt it move! Is it a boy or girl?” Fuller’s jolly pictures present a biracial family that thoroughly enjoys every moment together. It’s a bit oversimplified, but no one can complain about the positive message it conveys, appropriately, to its baby and toddler audience. The other titles in the New Baby series are My New Baby (ISBN: 978-1-84643-276-7), Look at Me! (ISBN: 978-1-84643-278-1) and You and Me (ISBN: 978-1-84643-277-4). (Board book. 18 mos.-3)
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-84643-275-0
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Child's Play
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2010
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by Rachel Fuller ; illustrated by Rachel Fuller ; translated by Teresa Mlawer
by Douglas Wood ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1999
Wood (Making the World, 1998, etc.) tackles the enormity of death and the meaning of prayer in a way that is both accessible and meaningful. A boy walks with his grandfather, who is his best friend. As they stroll through woods and past streams, the boy asks those questions that grandparents are on earth to answer—“Why?” “What if?”—and about prayers. Lucidly, the grandfather explains that trees “pray” as they reach for the sky, that waters pray, that the wind prays and sings at the same time. When people pray, “a prayer is often its own answer.” The grandfather dies, and the narrator finds it impossible to pray anymore; one day, when he is older, he discovers the woods again, and finds his own prayers. The deeply naturalistic watercolors portray the wild exquisitely, and the boy and grandfather are timelessly rendered in jeans, corduroys, and plaids. Some of the spreads are stunning: a close-up of the boy in the grass with a tiny clover in his fist, and only Grandad’s knees visible; or a ground-level view, looking up, past the upturned faces of the pair to the sun shining through the trees above. This is a depiction of the spiritual that is without reference to a particular faith or tradition, and that doesn’t lapse into greeting-card platitudes; Wood conveys a sense of something larger in the world, and gives voice to the human longing to understand. (Picture book. 6-10)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-7636-0660-X
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1999
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by Douglas Wood ; illustrated by G. Brian Karas
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by Douglas Wood ; illustrated by Greg Ruth
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by Douglas Wood ; illustrated by Jennifer A. Bell
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