Beginning ballet class is quite an adventure for Billie and her best friend, Jack.
Both start ballet with Miss Dainty as their teacher. Miss Dainty plays a “tinkly butterfly tune” for the girls and tells them to wave and flutter their arms. For the boys, she plays a “deep, stomping troll tune” to which they can make noise and chase the butterflies. Billie is a total failure at delicacy, knocking into and banging everything and everyone in her path. After dinner, the two best friends turn down dessert in favor of practicing their moves for the next class. Suddenly, Jack has an epiphany. His moves are delicate, so he will be the butterfly. Billie’s moves are aggressive and bold, so she will be the troll. Back in class, their teacher is pleased and accepting. Rippin’s description of a ballet class lacks any substance and is more suited to one for interpretive dance. She does not mention first steps or arm movements or even make a reference to a barre. The gender message—that girls and boys are not inherently gentle or fierce—is delivered with a wallop. Bold type highlights words more for appearance than for vocabulary. Occasional spot art does not compensate for the weakness of the text.
Emerging readers, particularly those who are knowledgeable about dance, will be better served by other stories. (Fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-61067-095-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Kane Miller
Review Posted Online: July 3, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2013
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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Hank Zipzer, poster boy for dyslexic middle graders everywhere, stars in a new prequel series highlighting second-grade trials and triumphs.
Hank’s hopes of playing Aqua Fly, a comic-book character, in the upcoming class play founder when, despite plenty of coaching and preparation, he freezes up during tryouts. He is not particularly comforted when his sympathetic teacher adds a nonspeaking role as a bookmark to the play just for him. Following the pattern laid down in his previous appearances as an older child, he gets plenty of help and support from understanding friends (including Ashley Wong, a new apartment-house neighbor). He even manages to turn lemons into lemonade with a quick bit of improv when Nick “the Tick” McKelty, the sneering classmate who took his preferred role, blanks on his lines during the performance. As the aforementioned bully not only chokes in the clutch and gets a demeaning nickname, but is fat, boastful and eats like a pig, the authors’ sensitivity is rather one-sided. Still, Hank has a winning way of bouncing back from adversity, and like the frequent black-and-white line-and-wash drawings, the typeface is designed with easy legibility in mind.
An uncomplicated opener, with some funny bits and a clear but not heavy agenda. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-448-48239-2
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: Dec. 11, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2014
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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Charlie Bumpers is doomed. The one teacher he never wanted in the whole school turns out to be his fourth-grade teacher.
Charlie recalls third grade, when he accidentally hit the scariest teacher in the whole school with his sneaker. “I know all about you, Charlie Bumpers,” she says menacingly on the first day of fourth grade. Now, in addition to all the hardships of starting school, he has gotten off on the wrong foot with her. Charlie’s dry and dramatic narrative voice clearly reveals the inner life of a 9-year-old—the glass is always half empty, especially in light of a series of well-intentioned events gone awry. It’s quite a litany: “Hitting Mrs. Burke in the head with the sneaker. The messy desk. The swinging on the door. The toilet paper. And now this—the shoe on the roof.” Harley has teamed once again with illustrator Gustavson (Lost and Found, 2012) to create a real-life world in which a likable kid must face the everyday terrors of childhood: enormous bullies, looming teachers and thick gym coaches with huge pointing fingers. Into this series opener, Harley magically weaves the simple lesson that people, even teachers, can surprise you.
Readers will be waiting to see how Charlie faces his next challenge in a series that marks a lovely change of pace from the sarcasm of Wimpy Kid. (Fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-56145-732-8
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: Aug. 14, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2013
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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