This luck-of-the-Irish alphabet book cites Irish legends and symbols with intertwined one-stanza poems. Each one-page entry features tidbits of Irish culture and lore. “B is for the Blarney Stone / And for great Brian Boru. / Beware the piercing banshee’s cry is / Or else she’ll come for you”; “Q is for the Irish pirate queen; / Grace O’Malley was her name. / She captured many English ships, / And their treasures she did claim.” (Inexplicably, pirate queen Grace O'Malley is pictured on dry land next to a castle and holding a broadsword; there's not a hint of a seafarer about the picture.) Some letters are stretches, as with most alphabet books: T is for the three colors on the Irish flag; U is for uilleann pipes; Gaelic has no letter X, except in names of Irish towns like Foxrock. And one has to wonder how many children in the book's audience will care about "J is for James Joyce." The format is typical, with color illustrations staging each ornately embellished capital letter and a few double-page spreads. One page of back matter provides a two-word glossary, a list of the 32 Irish counties and the lyrics to the song "Molly Malone." The device works tolerably but more contextualization and greater sensitivity to the audience level would have made the book more useful. (Picture book. 7-10)
Pub Date: March 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-58980-745-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Pelican
Review Posted Online: April 8, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
With a rhythm and rhyme that never falter, Slade offers readers insect-themed word problems: “Four hungry honey bees / dance...
Rhyming verse presents buggy word problems that can all be solved using multiplication.
With a rhythm and rhyme that never falter, Slade offers readers insect-themed word problems: “Four hungry honey bees / dance a buggy beat— / tappin’ with six furry legs. / How many dancing feet? / 4 x 6 = ?” The 11 multiplication facts, seemingly randomly chosen, each include one of the numbers from one to 11. While no doubt good practice the first time through, it precludes repeated readings and incorporates only a smattering of facts. Hunter, with specialties in entomological and botanical illustration, truly makes the text come alive. Her insects are realistically detailed and seem ready to crawl right out of the pages. But while they are fascinating to look at, they are not always the easiest to use as counters in answering the problems. The ladybug spots and walking stick parts are too small to count, and for those not in the know, the soldier ants appear to have only one pair of eyes rather than the five eyes of the math problem. Backmatter includes extensive information and questions to help readers learn more about insects. A final page provides a multiplication table as well as a breakdown of each problem from the text.Pub Date: Aug. 10, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-60718-128-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sylvan Dell
Review Posted Online: July 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2011
Like triumphant Mr. Bing, Keller walks off with a “Stiffy Stu McShiny” award for this yummy chapter-book series opener.
A bowling tournament gives the rolling raconteur introduced in the 2003 picture book Arnie the Doughnut fresh scope for wisecracks and wild misadventures.
Arnie goes to the bowling alley weekly to meet his cheesy triangular friend Peezo and belt out hits (from “Livin’ la vi-DOUGH loca!” to “DOUGHNUT make my brown eyes blue”) at the karaoke machine for admiring crowds while his (human) buddy Mr. Bing hits the lanes. Their visits slide into a scurry of sleuthing when Mr. Bing’s new ball, Betsy, inexplicably starts heading for the gutter rather than the pins on every roll. Presented in a frenetic mix of narrative, cartoon collages, dialogue balloons and melodramatic exclamations, the investigation leads the chocolate-frosted shamus to an identity thief at the end of a trail of dropped sprinkles and other clues. Unsurprisingly, it also provides opportunities aplenty to drop punch lines as well as to lay out bowling techniques and rules with help from a confused baseball umpire (“Ya see, Ump, in baseball strikes are BAD, but in bowling they’re GOOD!”), Albert Einstein and other walk-ons.
Like triumphant Mr. Bing, Keller walks off with a “Stiffy Stu McShiny” award for this yummy chapter-book series opener. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 7-10)Pub Date: June 11, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-8050-9076-5
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano/Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2013
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