A brief but amusing escapade into underwear history.
The only thing funnier than underwear? Prehistoric underwear!!
(Bare) necessity may be the mother of invention, but that doesn’t guarantee that one gets it right the first time. It’s the Stone Age, and after chilly cave-dweller Pod informs his father that “I really do need something to keep my bottom warm,” what follows is a series of missteps on the road to success. Naturally, Pod’s father’s first suggestion is that he use stone to make himself some undies. When that leads to a near drowning, the undaunted Pod tries wood, shells, spider webs, mud, and feathers before a woolly mammoth offers up the finest solution. Plenty of visual gags abound in the cartoonish art during Pod’s misadventures, with a highly amused mammoth in the background mirroring young readers’ inevitable delight. But it is Pod’s persistence to engage in trial and error, even in the face of multiple failures, that turns this book from mere Stone Age silliness into a lesson of tackling a problem from multiple angles. Pod and his family are light-skinned, and he has a multiracial group of friends.
A brief but amusing escapade into underwear history. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-84886-311-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Maverick Publishing
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
An upbeat introduction to the scrappy origins of a little-known bit of American musical history.
Drawing from the little that’s known about Emile “Stalebread Charlie” Lacoume, Mahin presents a fictionalized story about the homeless New Orleanian boys who innovated “spasm band” music, considered one of jazz’s precursors.
In 1895, Stalebread and pal Warm Gravy, both white, live in Storyville, which “smelled like trash and looked like trouble.” The boys steal to eat, constantly dodging the coppers. Hearing a trio playing one night, Stalebread hatches an idea. “Gravy! We’ll start a band. We’ll never be hungry again!” With an old stovepipe to sing through and a pebble-filled can to shake, the boys debut their rhythms—to the neighborhood’s general disdain. “No one liked their music. Not even the alley cats.” A boy called Cajun (the band’s sole kid of color) joins up with his “comb-made kazoo.” Pennywhistler Monk is next, followed by kids on washboard, spoons, and cigar-box fiddle. Though more often chased off than cheered, the boys’ luck finally turns when they bravely improvise for patrons at Mac’s Restaurant and Saloon. Mahin’s jaunty narrative uses occasional rhyme, and onomatopoeic words scroll through in arcing display type. Illustrator Tate’s note mentions finding supporting research for his intentional visual diversity: Among the diverse denizens of Storyville, he depicts a black cop. The text ends abruptly, but Mahin’s note adds lively details.
An upbeat introduction to the scrappy origins of a little-known bit of American musical history. (craft activity) (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: July 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-547-94201-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2018
Appeal may be limited to those children with “eyes as wide as the Texas skies.” (Picture book. 4-6)
A late-19th-century U.S. Army fort is the setting for this retelling of the Nutcracker ballet.
Centennia, a white girl with sausage curls, and her freckled brother, Caleb, are eagerly awaiting a Christmas party at Fort Davis, Texas. The guests at the party include Col. Grierson, who gives Centennia a wooden nutcracker. Jealous, Caleb damages the nutcracker. In the middle of the night, Centennia returns to the parlor, where suddenly the tree, the nutcracker, and all of the toys begin to grow. Centennia is nearly overpowered by rattlesnakes, but the swashbuckling nutcracker comes to her rescue. He magically becomes a handsome soldier who takes Centennia to a fantasy land of Texas treats. There she meets the “Bluebonnet Fairy” and witnesses the “Dance of the Mockingbirds,” square-dancing armadillos, and the “Waltz of the Wildflowers.” Pedantic storytelling and undistinguished illustrations make this an unexceptional book. An author’s note with facts about Fort Davis and the historical figure of Col. Grierson, who began the regiment of the so-called buffalo soldiers, provides background for the presence at the fort of two nonwhite characters, a soldier and a little boy. It does not, however, address the pueblo within which the dances are performed.
Appeal may be limited to those children with “eyes as wide as the Texas skies.” (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4556-2331-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Pelican
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
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