Sunny illustrations and a rhyming text introduce 70 Spanish words in surprisingly straightforward English sentences: ``A dog is a perro,/a cat is a gato./You drink from a vaso/and eat from a plato.'' In addition to providing translations for those who need more help than is supplied in the decidedly Western-flair illustrations, the glossary also insures that the newly bilingual get the pronunciation right. The progression of determinedly happy pictures begins to spring surprises midway through the book; these are sometimes simply amusing (a UFO appears over the increasingly chaotic action) and sometimes verging on the surreal (a fiesta- loving shark swings a bat). The text also includes words (burrito, pi§ata, mosquito) that are identical in the two languages. Outwardly, this book by two newcomers looks like a language lesson from Looney Tunes. Then—¤sorpresa!—it turns out to be innovative, useful, and fun. (Picture book/nonfiction. 5-10)
Pub Date: March 1, 1996
ISBN: 1-880000-29-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Lee & Low Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Trickling, bubbling, swirling, rushing, a river flows down from its mountain beginnings, past peaceful country and bustling city on its way to the sea. Hooper (The Drop in My Drink, 1998, etc.) artfully evokes the water’s changing character as it transforms from “milky-cold / rattling-bold” to a wide, slow “sliding past mudflats / looping through marshes” to the end of its journey. Willey, best known for illustrating Geraldine McCaughrean’s spectacular folk-tale collections, contributes finely detailed scenes crafted in shimmering, intricate blues and greens, capturing mountain’s chill, the bucolic serenity of passing pastures, and a sense of mystery in the water’s shadowy depths. Though Hooper refers to “the cans and cartons / and bits of old wood” being swept along, there’s no direct conservation agenda here (for that, see Debby Atwell’s River, 1999), just appreciation for the river’s beauty and being. (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: June 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7636-0792-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2000
Steig (Toby, Where Are You?, 1997, etc.), inspired by a game he used to play with his daughter, turns a rainy day into a pizza party, starring a caring father and his feeling-blue son, Pete. Just when Pete was set to go play ball with his friends, it starts to rain. His melancholy is not lost on his father: “He thinks it might cheer Pete up to be made into a pizza.” Which is just what the father proceeds to do. Pete is transported to the kitchen table where he is kneaded and stretched, tossed into the air for shaping, sprinkled with oil and flour and tomatoes and cheese (water, talcum, checkers, and bits of paper). He then gets baked on the living room couch and tickled and chased until the sun comes out and it is time to speed outside, a pizza no more, but happy. What leaps from the page, with a dancer’s grace, is the warmth and imagination wrapped in an act of kindness and tuned- in parenting. As always, Steig’s illustrations are a natural—an organic—part of the story, whether Pete’s a pizza, or not. (Picture book. 5-10)
Pub Date: Oct. 31, 1998
ISBN: 0-06-205157-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1998
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