A fine choice for newly independent and reluctant readers, featuring good-natured characters, a well-intentioned mutt, and...
A young German shepherd and his human family bound into snowy adventure in the second chapter book in Gorian’s (Rosco the Rascal Visits the Pumpkin Patch, 2014) series, with illustrations by Webb (Beautiful Brown, 2018, etc.).
Rosco, a 2-year-old dog, is full of exuberant, youthful energy; although he’s full grown, he’s still learning how to behave like his family wants. When they all travel into the mountains for a vacation, Rosco can’t help making mistakes: He ruins second-grader Mandy’s perfect snow angel; leaves paw prints all over her and fifth-grader James’ snowman (and steals its carrot nose); and accidentally drags Mandy down a sledding hill at a frightening speed. But when the kids stumble upon an angry mother coyote that’s trying to rescue her pup from a trap, Rosco stands between them and danger. The narrative shows the vacation from the perspectives of various characters, including Rosco himself, and offers details of potentially unfamiliar tasks, such as putting on snow tires. The Caucasian kids get along better than most fictional siblings; they’re well-behaved and hardly argue. Webb’s black-and-white images are spaced frequently enough to comfort independent readers who might be intimidated by books without any pictures. Their quality, though, is a bit uneven, and some feel unfinished, such as a hard-lined image of the coyote mother. The language is perfunctory rather than artful, but Gorian writes in a concise, simple style that budding readers will find accessible.
A fine choice for newly independent and reluctant readers, featuring good-natured characters, a well-intentioned mutt, and an outdoor rescue mission.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-692-06003-2
Page Count: 112
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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