Worthy, even trendy, but unlikely to make nonreaders (of any age) follow the animals in Judy Sierra and Marc Brown’s classic...
A librarian endows a treasure-hunting pirate with reading skills as well as training him to hush up in this bland valentine to literacy.
Sending other users fleeing from their computer screens and cozy reading nooks to cower in the stacks, Big Pirate Pete bursts into the Seabreezy Library bellowing demands for treasure. Flashing the fierce, quelling glare that good public and school librarians everywhere wield, diminutive Library Lou shuts him up and sends him away with a promise to help after he bathes and changes his undershorts. When he meekly returns, she shows him that there’s more to the alphabet than “X marks the spot,” and in time, he becomes an avid reader—as Greene puts it in a typically lumbering couplet: “Those factual books, Big Pete came to love. / He read about things that he’d never heard of….” Ajhar tracks the development of this Common Core–friendly reading preference in comical scenes in which schoolmarmish Lou dances balletically among piles of books as the exaggeratedly humongous pirate grows more and more absorbed in his reading. At last he figures out that reading is fun and tenders his thanks: “ ‘ ’Cause of ye, now we know—books be the treasure!’ / ‘Shucks,’ whispered Lou. ‘It’s been my pleasure.’ ”
Worthy, even trendy, but unlikely to make nonreaders (of any age) follow the animals in Judy Sierra and Marc Brown’s classic to become Wild About Books (2004). (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: May 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-58536-796-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: March 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The diminutive humans’ unhesitating generosity to one in need adds a warm glow to this gourmand’s delight.
A dismayed lad learns that 10 slices of pizza, 33 jars of peanut butter and 200 cookies are only hors d’oeuvres for a peckish giant. What to do?
Looking decidedly woebegone in Nielsen’s very simple, graphic-style illustrations, the towering giant that silently appears in the backyard sports a reversible sign: “Food” on one side, “Please” on the other. With repeated choruses of “Seriously, you aren’t going to believe this,” and “It’s back to the kitchen for me,” the well-intentioned young narrator nearly empties his astonishingly well-stocked fridge. (His dog, Cowgirl, provides a running side commentary: “That’s one thirsty giant.”) Until, at last, Mom steps in and sets to work concocting a “Ginormous Blueberry Muffin,” “Mega-Pigs in Blankets” and like oversized dishes—all of which are provided with reasonably nutritious “Recipes for a hungry giant (or 8 little kids)” on a flimsy detachable flier. Besides the aforementioned signboard, the sparse but well-designed moveable parts include a pull-up giant on the front cover, a swimming pool filled with chocolate milk that’s slurped up thanks to a pull tab and a big climactic pop-up of the now-smiling giant contemplating a table filled with properly scaled chow.
The diminutive humans’ unhesitating generosity to one in need adds a warm glow to this gourmand’s delight. (Pop-up. 6-8)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7611-5752-6
Page Count: 30
Publisher: Workman
Review Posted Online: Oct. 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2011
Ironically enough, this particular Rumor doesn’t seem likely to inspire much repetition.
A group of animal friends misinterprets a small piece of information, resulting in outsized fears and creating a one-joke tale that rolls quickly along to a happy ending.
The confusion begins when a quizzical-looking rabbit named Rupert spots an item about a wolf in the area while reading the paper. He hurries to warn his friends. As the story spreads and grows, each animal adds its own self-inspired spin. Cleo, the cat, describes the wolf’s “sharp claws,” while Antoine, the alligator, focuses on its big teeth and biting ability. Young listeners are sure to get the joke when they realize that Antoine is sharing his fears with his friend Wallace, who just happens to be a wolf. Oddly enough, Wallace doesn’t point out the foolishness of their fears. Instead he panics too and urges all of his friends inside for a bowl of mushroom soup, which they enjoy in the safety of his “double-locked” house. Most of Felix’s anthropomorphized animals wear items of clothing, and all are engaged in typical human activities. These details definitely add appeal (Antoine in the bathtub in an old-fashioned striped bathing costume is particularly amusing, while Rupert’s blue jacket is decidedly reminiscent of another storybook rabbit’s), but they aren’t enough to entirely outweigh the predictable plot and didactic overtones.
Ironically enough, this particular Rumor doesn’t seem likely to inspire much repetition. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Dec. 15, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-56846-219-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Creative Editions/Creative Company
Review Posted Online: Nov. 1, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2011
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