Wells (Yoko, 1998, etc.) makes numbers fun and relevant to daily life in this longer than usual picture book. Emily’s teacher promises that her class will have a special celebration on the 100th day of school. Every day the children write a new number in their number books and Emily includes it in a story. Those one- or two-sentence stories tell about Emily’s lessons in school, the antics of her friends and family, and her thoughts and feelings as she lives through these hundred days. Each of the little stories says a lot in a few words: “Eloise is thirteen years old. She thinks she knows everything.” Some stories have specific references that children may not know, but Wells gives them context through the illustrations. For the number sixteen, grandpa and grandma play “Sixteen Tons” and the first line of the music and words dance above their heads. Wells’s ink and watercolor drawings of effervescent little animals with human characteristics are familiar to her readers and sure to bring a smile. The variety of the page design, bold colors, movement, and humor create interest and liveliness. Some numbers have a full-page spread; others share the page. Pages may have frames or borders filled with objects related to the story; others have color extended to the corners. Every page is filled with details, but the numbers stand out, as do the many counting opportunities, making this a delightful learning opportunity. It also fulfills a need for teachers who follow the well-known mathematical pedagogy program that the celebration describes. Delicious! (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: May 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7868-0507-2
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The creators of Punctuation Takes a Vacation (2003) sentence readers to a good time with this follow-up. Feeling left out after the children in Mr. Wright’s class thunder outside for a Field Day, the nouns and verbs left in the classroom decide to organize events of their own. But having chosen like parts of speech for partners—“Glue, Markers and Tape stuck together. Shout wanted to be with Cheer. So did Chew and Eat.”—it quickly becomes apparent that as opposing teams they can’t actually do anything. Depicting the Nouns as objects and the Verbs as hyperactive v-shaped figures, Rowe creates a set of high-energy scenes, climaxing in a Tug of Words and other contests once the participants figure out that they’ll work better mixed rather than matched. This playful introduction to words recalls Ruth Heller’s Kites Sail High (1998) and Merry-Go-Round (1990) for liveliness, and closes with several simple exercises and games to get children into the act. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: March 15, 2006
ISBN: 0-8234-1982-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006
Cute and brave—gee, Rot’s spud-tacular!
A “scaredy-spud” puts on his brave face.
All “mutant potatoes” love mud. Mud is good for playing games, eating, and even sleeping. But few taters have more tender feelings toward muck than Rot. À la Pete the Cat, Rot celebrates mud in song: “Mud between my toes! / Mud in my nose! / Mud is GREAT / wherever it GOES!” When Rot’s big brother, Snot, tells Rot about the Squirm that lives “deep down in the mushy muck,” his love quickly turns to fear. But he doesn’t give up! Instead, Rot imagines himself in various disguises to work up courage. There’s “Super Spud” (a superhero), “Sir Super Rot, the Brave and Bold” (a superhero-knight), and even “Sir Super Rot the Pigtato” (a, um, superhero-knight-pig-potato). The disguises are one thing, but, deep down, is Rot really brave enough to face the Squirm? Readers wooed by Rot’s charm in Rot: The Cutest in the World (2017) will laugh out loud at this well-paced encore—and it’s not just because of the butt cracks. Clanton creates a winning dynamic, balancing Rot’s earnestness, witty dialogue, and an omniscient, slightly melodramatic narrator. The cartoon illustrations were created using watercolors, colored pencils, digital collage, and—brilliantly—potato stamps. Clanton’s reliance on earth tones makes for some clever, surprising page turns when the palette is broken.
Cute and brave—gee, Rot’s spud-tacular! (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4814-6764-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
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