Misunderstandings, slapstick, and giant poo…what more could a young reader want?
Cursed with cuteness, all Lin the panda wants to do is be bad.
Even though Lin’s cuddliness won her a spot at the city zoo the other pandas covet, she just wants to return to the panda sanctuary and play with her beloved (though doltish) older brother, Face-Like-A-Bag-Of-Potatoes. She and her new panda friend Fu decide that if being a good panda got her to the zoo, being a bad panda will get her sent back. Lin’s first hurdle is Fu, as he is too kind to be a bad panda along with her. Lin decides scaring pigeons is a good first step, but the pigeons aren’t afraid of cute Lin, and the humans think she’s so cute trying to scare the pigeons, they take photos. When she tries to scare off all the visitors at the main gate, they snap more photos of her trying to be scary. She enlists the help of Malo, a capuchin monkey. Will any of their plans succeed? (Hint: Don’t call her a “fluffy-wuffy bear.”) Creators of the Dave Pigeon series, popular overseas, Haddow and Dempsey kick off a new series of giggle-out-loud early chapter books with this introduction to Lin and her cuteness problem. The easy-reading text retains its original British spelling and punctuation along with the occasional criticism. Dempsey’s two-color vignettes and comics panels illustrate the silliness.
Misunderstandings, slapstick, and giant poo…what more could a young reader want? (Animal fantasy. 5-9)Pub Date: Aug. 24, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-571-35241-8
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for...
A gentle voice and familiar pitfalls characterize this tale of a boy navigating the risky road to responsibility.
Gavin is new to his neighborhood and Carver Elementary. He likes his new friend, Richard, and has a typically contentious relationship with his older sister, Danielle. When Gavin’s desire to impress Richard sets off a disastrous chain of events, the boy struggles to evade responsibility for his actions. “After all, it isn’t his fault that Danielle’s snow globe got broken. Sure, he shouldn’t have been in her room—but then, she shouldn’t be keeping candy in her room to tempt him. Anybody would be tempted. Anybody!” opines Gavin once he learns the punishment for his crime. While Gavin has a charming Everyboy quality, and his aversion to Aunt Myrtle’s yapping little dog rings true, little about Gavin distinguishes him from other trouble-prone protagonists. He is, regrettably, forgettable. Coretta Scott King Honor winner English (Francie, 1999) is a teacher whose storytelling usually benefits from her day job. Unfortunately, the pizzazz of classroom chaos is largely absent from this series opener.
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for subsequent volumes. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: Dec. 17, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-547-97044-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A charming friendship story and great setup for future books.
Curious about the Big Wide World outside his Sasquatch community, Hugo makes a friend who is of it.
Sasquatch Hugo’s bedroom is inside a cave and possesses the charming feature of a small stream running through it that he can sail his little toy boat on. It’s cool, but he yearns to see the Big Wide World. When he asks his smart friend Gigi if a Sasquatch might become a sailor, she says it’s possible but would be difficult—the primary rule of their people is to not be seen by Humans. Then, in everyone’s favorite Hide and Go Sneak class, which is held outside, a Human appears; Hugo laughs at the sight, drawing Human attention in a taboo-breaking mistake. Shortly after, Hugo’s toy boat floats into the cave with a Human toy—soon, it’s facilitating a pen-pal–type relationship that’s derailed when Hugo confesses to being a Sasquatch and Human Boone, a budding cryptozoologist, doesn’t believe him. How Hugo and Boone resolve this misapprehension and become friends in a joint search for the Ogopogo concludes this series opener. Potter keeps the third-person narrative tightly focused on Hugo’s perspective, and the details she uses to flesh out the Sasquatch world are delightfully playful. Sala’s drawings depict a homey Sasquatch cavern community, Boone as a freckled, white boy, and Hugo as a hairily benevolent behemoth.
A charming friendship story and great setup for future books. (final art unseen) (Fantasy. 5-9)Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2859-4
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018
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