Transitioning readers, particularly girls, will enjoy seeing Daisy navigate the familiar shoals of elementary school in this...
What's a girl to do when her young next-door neighbor, Grant, who has just discovered the joy of rhyming, starts calling her “Lazy Daisy” every time he sees her, even at school?
For Daisy, who absolutely adores words, the perfect solution to her problem with pesky Grant is to create a new and much better name for herself—something to replace “Lazy Daisy.” Daisy has been learning about alliteration in school, so her new name ought to feature a word that starts with the letter D, and if one word is wonderful, then a whole series of words must be even better. After a lot of experimentation, which of course exposes readers new to chapter books to a little challenging vocabulary, Daisy finally settles on Dynamite Dramatic Determined Dazzling Daisy. Unfortunately, that name is too long for many people to remember, and it proves especially discouraging for her best friend. Eventually, Daisy finds a better way to make peace with Grant. As in Daisy's first outing, not much happens, but the pages look inviting, with minimal, generously leaded print and ample, charming black-and-white illustrations. Daisy is affable enough to be an appealing protagonist as she navigates some of the minor perils of grade school.
Transitioning readers, particularly girls, will enjoy seeing Daisy navigate the familiar shoals of elementary school in this better-than-average early chapter book. (Fiction. 5-8)Pub Date: March 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-55453-780-8
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2013
Emergent readers will like the humor in little Pip’s pointed requests, and more engaging adventures for Otto and Pip will be...
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
Appropriately bound in brown paper, this makes its profound point more directly than such like-themed tales as Marisabina...
Dedicated “to children everywhere sitting in cardboard boxes,” this elemental debut depicts a bunny with big, looping ears demonstrating to a rather thick, unseen questioner (“Are you still standing around in that box?”) that what might look like an ordinary carton is actually a race car, a mountain, a burning building, a spaceship or anything else the imagination might dream up.
Portis pairs each question and increasingly emphatic response with a playscape of Crockett Johnson–style simplicity, digitally drawn with single red and black lines against generally pale color fields.
Appropriately bound in brown paper, this makes its profound point more directly than such like-themed tales as Marisabina Russo’s Big Brown Box (2000) or Dana Kessimakis Smith’s Brave Spaceboy (2005). (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-112322-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2006
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