An offbeat blend of education and mayhem, themed just right for Halloween.
A coven of witches stirs up the Great Brungle Stew with a variety of collective nouns to summon Mr. Brungle, the “wickedly vile” heartthrob of “the witch with a wart,” in this offering from India.
“A QUIVER OF COBRAS, / Shoot them in straight. / From A LOUNGE OF LIZARDS / Add exactly eight! // Make sure to toss in / A MISCHIEF OF MICE. / Or just one big rat / Is sure to suffice.” Interesting and unusual collective nouns for different animals are written in uppercase type, while the rest of the text is set in standard fashion. The rhymes of the quatrains as well as the meter are occasionally inconsistent. Illustrations are darkly colorful, with the many animals represented fairly realistically, while the witches, with brown skin and white hair, sport long, pointy noses and sparse teeth. Their charm delights (though it may need some practice before reading aloud): “Tremple Gemple Fever Sticks / Pimple Poxile Psittacosis / Frungle Brungle, Where Are You? / Appear Now! Shimshamshoo!” When the spell does not work, one of the witch sisters adds the last essential ingredient at midnight, and what appears? The titular tangle of brungles! The collective nouns range far and wide, as the witches toss in a kaleidoscope of butterflies, a clew of worms, a paddle of ducks, and many more.
An offbeat blend of education and mayhem, themed just right for Halloween. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2018
ISBN: 978-8-181903-60-0
Page Count: 34
Publisher: Karadi Tales
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
First of a tasty if not immediately nourishing new series.
When Dr. Bunsen, Gabe, Laura, and Cesar's mad-scientist neighbor, tries out his growth machine on Gabe's plastic animal toys, there's an unexpected result—they come to life.
Second-grade whiz kids Gabriel Martinez, Laura Reyes, and Cesar Moreno meet their strange neighbor while fundraising for a science-club field trip. Known to their classmates as “the Data Set,” they each have individual passions: Gabe loves animals; Laura loves to tinker and invent; Cesar loves to read and eat. There’s room for all these activities in their well-equipped treehouse. Together, their fantastic adventures will be the stuff of four titles scheduled for 2016 and aimed directly at first- and second-graders already devouring books. This episode introduces the characters, sets up the problem (the cute but rapidly growing baby animals), and finds a solution (sneak them into the zoo) in 126 fast-paced pages written with plenty of dialogue and copiously illustrated with appealing drawings. With these Latino protagonists—Cesar has dark skin and curly hair, while Laura and Gabe have lighter skin and straight hair—and a STEM-infused plot, this would seem to have been made to order for today’s elementary school students. While the emphasis is far more on plot than STEM, the kid-friendly fantasy should captivate readers, who will certainly want to gobble up the next installment. (Tantalizingly, the opening pages are included.)
First of a tasty if not immediately nourishing new series. (Adventure. 5-8)Pub Date: April 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-5729-3
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2016
Fast and furious action guaranteed to keep new readers laughing and turning pages.
Never underestimate the chaotic fun that magic and an angry bouncing ball can create.
When Frog goes to the library, he borrows a book on magic. He then heads to a nearby park to read up on the skills necessary to becoming “a great magician.” Suddenly, a deflated yellow ball lands with a “Thud!” at his feet. Although he flexes his new magician muscles, Frog’s spells fall as flat as the ball. But when Frog shouts “Phooey!” and kicks the ball away, it inflates to become a big, angry ball. The ball begins to chase Frog, so he seeks shelter in the library—and Frog and ball turn the library’s usual calm into chaos. The cartoon chase crescendos. The ball bounces into the middle of a game of chess, interrupts a puppet show, and crashes into walls and bookcases. Staying just one bounce ahead, Frog runs, hides, grabs a ride on a book cart, and scatters books and papers as he slides across the library furniture before an alligator patron catches the ball and kicks it out the library door. But that’s not the end of the ball….Caple’s tidy panels and pastel-hued cartoons make a surprisingly effective setting for the slapstick, which should have young readers giggling. Simple sentences—often just subject and verb—with lots of repetition propel the action. Frog’s nonsense-word spells (“Poof Wiffle, Bop Bip!”) are both funny and excellent practice in phonetics. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Fast and furious action guaranteed to keep new readers laughing and turning pages. (Graphic early reader. 5-7)Pub Date: Aug. 10, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4341-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2021
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
