Not quite as easy a read as similarly formatted Boris on the Move, by Andrew Joyner (2013), this will nonetheless appeal to...
Shaped like an early chapter book rather than an easy reader, this effort, one of a new series called Branches, introduces super-duper Missy and her encounter with school picture day.
Missy, a very exuberant and headstrong young grade schooler, spends her whole week imagining all of the wild outfits she could wear to have her picture taken. The full-color, cartoony illustrations, some humorously depicting her numerous clothing changes and wild design concepts, fill most of the white space on each page and effectively portray Missy’s personality, as well as that of a bookish classmate, Oscar. She adores ruffles, striped tights and lots of over-the-top accessories, a fascination that many young female readers will recognize and enjoy. Missy’s mother forces her to wear a plain blouse and skirt with suspenders for her picture, though, and she fusses and fumes through her school day. Eventually, she and Oscar, who loves suspenders but is wearing a plaid vest and bow tie, hatch a scheme that resolves her woes. Most pages feature only a sentence or two but include some challenging sight words, considering how brief the text is: “gracious,” “chocolate” and “information” among them.
Not quite as easy a read as similarly formatted Boris on the Move, by Andrew Joyner (2013), this will nonetheless appeal to emergent female readers wishing to look especially accomplished to their peers—and who doesn’t enjoy that feeling? (Fiction. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-545-43851-3
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Branches/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
Very young gardeners will need more information, but for certain picky eaters, the suggested strategy just might work.
A young spinach hater becomes a spinach lover after she has to grow her own in a class garden.
Unable to trade away the seed packet she gets from her teacher for tomatoes, cukes or anything else more palatable, Sylvia reluctantly plants and nurtures a pot of the despised veggie then transplants it outside in early spring. By the end of school, only the plot’s lettuce, radishes and spinach are actually ready to eat (talk about a badly designed class project!)—and Sylvia, once she nerves herself to take a nibble, discovers that the stuff is “not bad.” She brings home an armful and enjoys it from then on in every dish: “And that was the summer Sylvia Spivens said yes to spinach.” Raff uses unlined brushwork to give her simple cartoon illustrations a pleasantly freehand, airy look, and though Pryor skips over the (literally, for spinach) gritty details in both the story and an afterword, she does cover gardening basics in a simple and encouraging way.
Very young gardeners will need more information, but for certain picky eaters, the suggested strategy just might work. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Nov. 6, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-9836615-1-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Readers to Eaters
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2012
There are many parallel legends – the seal women, for example, with their strange sad longings – but none is more direct than this American Indian story of a girl who is carried away in a horses’ stampede…to ride thenceforth by the side of a beautiful stallion who leads the wild horses. The girl had always loved horses, and seemed to understand them “in a special way”; a year after her disappearance her people find her riding beside the stallion, calf in tow, and take her home despite his strong resistance. But she is unhappy and returns to the stallion; after that, a beautiful mare is seen riding always beside him. Goble tells the story soberly, allowing it to settle, to find its own level. The illustrations are in the familiar striking Goble style, but softened out here and there with masses of flowers and foliage – suitable perhaps for the switch in subject matter from war to love, but we miss the spanking clean design of Custer’s Last Battle and The Fetterman Fight. 6-7
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1978
ISBN: 0689845049
Page Count: -
Publisher: Bradbury
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1978
© 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
