It's disconcerting to meet the McBrooms in any but the Kurt Werth incarnation, especially as Frankenberg's 13 raspberry-haired yokels are less fetching than their predecessors. But the affable farmer's tales are as tall as ever when he gets to gabbing about the winter of the Big Freeze. That's the year when snowmen go south for the winter, red barns turn blue with the cold, and the smoke takes to freezing in the chimney and has to be blasted with a shotgun three times a day. During periods of thaw the family is pestered by a spook who imitates the sounds of the family's dead rooster, McBroom's voice calling the children, and the piccolos from a favorite Sousa recording. To no avail McBroom consults Widow Witherbee, burns a pile of old shoes to exorcise the spirit, and buys a ghost-hunting mongrel dog. Then one early spring day, when wolf howls from nowhere frighten away villainous neighbor Jones' invading hogs, "Glory be! It was clear to me now. There never had been a haunt lurking about! It was nothing but the weather playing pranks on us. . . . The sounds had frozen. And now all those sounds were thawing out!" More hayseed hyperbole from a ripsnorter.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1971
ISBN: 0843179481
Page Count: 72
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: April 25, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1971
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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