Fleischman (Bandit’s Moon, 1998, etc.) relates six lively, interlocking tall tales involving the animals who live near Barefoot Mountain and the changes brought about by “a no-account little tornado” that “came twirling like a ballerina across the countryside.” A sidehill clinger with two long and two short legs who had its fur plucked out by the storm, a cat who blows itself up like a balloon to scare the nasty dog next door, and a rooster who eats so many fireflies it lights up like a lamp are among the curious characters to inhabit this nonsense world. A chapter book for those who are ready to move up from the beginning-to-read level, this can also be read aloud to a younger audience. Hafner’s (Lucille’s Snowsuit, p. 1119) watercolor, colored-pencil, and pen-and-ink illustrations perfectly suit the tales. Full-page pictures introduce each story while numerous small-scale sketches add humor throughout. While not as rollicking as the author’s McBroom stories, these will tickle the fancy of many and could serve as an introduction to Fleischman’s masterful tall-tale telling. (Fiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2000
ISBN: 0-688-16948-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2000
From Johnston (An Old Shell, 1999, etc.), poetic phrases that follow a ghostly barn owl through days and nights, suns and moons. Barn owls have been nesting and roosting, hunting and hatching in the barn and its surroundings for as long as the barn has housed spiders, as long as the wheat fields have housed mice, “a hundred years at least.” The repetition of alliterative words and the hushed hues of the watercolors evoke the soundless, timeless realm of the night owl through a series of spectral scenes. Short, staccato strings of verbs describe the age-old actions and cycles of barn owls, who forever “grow up/and sleep/and wake/and blink/and hunt for mice.” Honey-colored, diffused light glows in contrast to the star-filled night scenes of barn owls blinking awake. A glimpse into the hidden campestral world of the elusive barn owl. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-88106-981-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2000
The gastronomical oddity of eating winged and many-legged creatures is fleetingly examined in a superficial text that looks at animals and people who eat insects. Bugs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner are gobbled up by a shrew, an aardvark, a bear, a gecko, and others. The rhyme scheme limits the information presented; specificity about the types of insects eaten is sacrificed for the sake of making the rhyme flow, e.g., a mouse, a trout, a praying mantis, a nuthatch, and a bat are repeatedly said to eat “bugs” or “insects” in general, rather than naming the mayflies, moths, or grubs they enjoy. An author’s note explains her choice of the word bugs for all crawly things; an addendum takes care of other particulars lacking in the text. Long’s exacting pen-and-ink style lends a naturalistic perfection to this visual playground of the insect world, enhancing this glimpse of vital link in the food chain. (Picture book. 4-7)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-88106-271-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1999
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