by Sandra Dutton & illustrated by Sandra Dutton ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 9, 2007
An articulate bird named Miss Perfect serves as the advice columnist for the Beastly News in this witty collection that entertains while subtly conveying information about manners and letter-writing conventions. Miss Perfect provides a short introduction to each thematic section, on the subjects of school, food, family and friends. Earnest letters from Miss Perfect’s young readers pose problems relating to each species, such as where an elephant should place his trunk at the dinner table between courses or if a truly tired sloth really must write thank-you notes. Miss Perfect’s thoughtful and kind responses are written with a slightly authoritative and old-fashioned tone but always with respect for the young writers and their particular problems. Dutton’s understated watercolor-and-ink illustrations are charming without trying too hard, providing a perfect complement to the humorous text. Teachers in the upper-elementary grades will want to enlist Miss Perfect’s help in their letter-writing lessons, and parents and grandparents who would like to encourage proper behavior from their own little beasts will find Miss Perfect’s approach commendable. (Picture book/nonfiction. 5-10)
Pub Date: April 9, 2007
ISBN: 0-618-67717-8
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2007
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by Doreen Cronin & illustrated by Harry Bliss ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 2005
The wriggly narrator of Diary of a Worm (2003) puts in occasional appearances, but it’s his arachnid buddy who takes center stage here, with terse, tongue-in-cheek comments on his likes (his close friend Fly, Charlotte’s Web), his dislikes (vacuums, people with big feet), nervous encounters with a huge Daddy Longlegs, his extended family—which includes a Grandpa more than willing to share hard-won wisdom (The secret to a long, happy life: “Never fall asleep in a shoe.”)—and mishaps both at spider school and on the human playground. Bliss endows his garden-dwellers with faces and the odd hat or other accessory, and creates cozy webs or burrows colorfully decorated with corks, scraps, plastic toys and other human detritus. Spider closes with the notion that we could all get along, “just like me and Fly,” if we but got to know one another. Once again, brilliantly hilarious. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-06-000153-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Joanna Cotler/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2005
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by Andrew Clements & illustrated by R.W. Alley ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 23, 2005
Give this child’s-eye view of a day at the beach with an attentive father high marks for coziness: “When your ball blows across the sand and into the ocean and starts to drift away, your daddy could say, Didn’t I tell you not to play too close to the waves? But he doesn’t. He wades out into the cold water. And he brings your ball back to the beach and plays roll and catch with you.” Alley depicts a moppet and her relaxed-looking dad (to all appearances a single parent) in informally drawn beach and domestic settings: playing together, snuggling up on the sofa and finally hugging each other goodnight. The third-person voice is a bit distancing, but it makes the togetherness less treacly, and Dad’s mix of love and competence is less insulting, to parents and children both, than Douglas Wood’s What Dads Can’t Do (2000), illus by Doug Cushman. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: May 23, 2005
ISBN: 0-618-00361-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2005
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