Suitably wild homage: Should the Cat in the Hat be occupied elsewhere, this may fit the bill. (Picture book. 5-7)
Iggie and her jellybean-nosed tiger cat approach terminal boredom on a rainy day—until a herd of striped, checked, polka- dotted, pop-eyed Krazees spring from the drawers, cupboards, and other hiding places to gambol destructively about the house.
Swope (The Araboolies of Liberty Street, 1989) borrows more than the plot from Dr. Seuss—"Have you ever seen the Krazees?/Have you seen them here and there?/Have you seen them in your TV set/and in your underwear?"—but, heavy with nonsense words, the derivative text makes a properly silly read-aloud. Brace's rubbery monsters chase Iggie through room after room, sawing, spraying, and gobbling, but it's a tidy rampage, leaving knocked- over furniture but no visible stains or damage. At last the sun comes out, and once "plipple plop bim bango—poof!/Those Krazees go away," Iggie runs outside for a bit of "jumping stomping bongo bopping" of her own.
Suitably wild homage: Should the Cat in the Hat be occupied elsewhere, this may fit the bill. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 1997
ISBN: 0-374-34281-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1997
BOOK REVIEW
In his third beginning reader about Otto the robot, Milgrim (See Otto, 2002, etc.) introduces another new friend for Otto, a little mouse named Pip. The simple plot involves a large balloon that Otto kindly shares with Pip after the mouse has a rather funny pointing attack. (Pip seems to be in that I-point-and-I-want-it phase common with one-year-olds.) The big purple balloon is large enough to carry Pip up and away over the clouds, until Pip runs into Zee the bee. (“Oops, there goes Pip.”) Otto flies a plane up to rescue Pip (“Hurry, Otto, Hurry”), but they crash (and splash) in front of some hippos with another big balloon, and the story ends as it begins, with a droll “See Pip point.” Milgrim again succeeds in the difficult challenge of creating a real, funny story with just a few simple words. His illustrations utilize lots of motion and basic geometric shapes with heavy black outlines, all against pastel backgrounds with text set in an extra-large typeface. Emergent readers will like the humor in little Pip’s pointed requests, and more engaging adventures for Otto and Pip will be welcome additions to the limited selection of funny stories for children just beginning to read. (Easy reader. 5-7)
Pub Date: March 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-689-85116-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2003
Floyd and Denise update “The Tortoise and the Hare” for primary readers, captioning each soft-focus, semi-rural scene with a short, simple sentence or two. Rabbit proposes running to school, while his friend Turtle takes the bus: no contest at first, as the bus makes stop after deliberate stop, but because Rabbit pauses at a pushcart for a snack, a fresh-looking Turtle greets his panting, disheveled friend on the school steps. There is no explicit moral, but children will get the point—and go on to enjoy Margery Cuyler’s longer and wilder Road Signs: A Harey Race with a Tortoise (p. 957). (Easy reader. 5-7)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-15-202679-7
Page Count: 20
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2000
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