Sid Fleischman's zest for frontier foolishment and humbug is at full steam in this story of an itinerant newspaperman's family heading for their own six lots in the new city of Sunshine, planned and executed by their steamboat-captain grandfather. But instead of the fancy hotel and opera house pictured on the Sunshine litho, the Flints find only an abandoned riverboat, stranded when the Missouri River jumped its banks, moved over, and made Sunshine a premature ghost town by landing it in the dry state of Nevada where taverns aren't allowed. A summary would be unfair as Fleischman's lively incidentals dovetail too neatly to be abstracted—but the family does settle down on the riverboat, and at the end the digging gold miners that young Wiley Flint has inadvertently attracted to Sunshine cause the Missouri to shift back—with the following results: Sunshine is back in wet Dakota Territory and thus back in business; shifty Mr. Chitwood with his Nebraska claim to Sunshine property is drummed out of town; and rapscallious Shagnasty John and his sidekick the Fool Killer are foiled in their scheme to ambush Grandfather's new boat and its cargo of gold. Tarnatious fun all the way.
Pub Date: Oct. 19, 1978
ISBN: 0844670057
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: April 25, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1978
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
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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