Mickelson takes a bold stab at trying to make the artichoke an object of amusement, but as vegetables go, the spiny globe is more strange than humorous. And the same goes for Artichoke Boy, who looks less comical than plain gaga. The simple, rhymed text (there is no actual story, just artichokes in strange circumstances) tells readers that he has artichoke fingers, ears, nose, elbows and knees, though only on the page with the corresponding snippet of rhyme, and never again. He is not so much Artichoke Boy as Boy with Artichoke Obsession: He sleds on an artichoke leaf and has an artichoke fish; he has an artichoke toothbrush and takes artichoke baths. Halfway through, the artichoke joke flags, both text and artwork, which is a mixed-media collage of artichoke photographs shaped and applied to fields of color on which sport Jules Feiffer–ish characters. The artwork has moments: Those artichoke knees are droll, though not so the artichoke simply plopped in the fish tank. Artichoke Boy’s joy in artichokes seems more a clinical issue than it is a bit of tomfool fun. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-59078-605-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2008
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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