No more than a quick shuffle, but for young readers who can Mind the Gap, the flavour does come through.
Foods, festivals, and frolics mingle in this 12-month tour through England’s calendar of traditions old and, well, older.
Multiculturalism is definitely the order of the day. Five children of diverse ancestry introduce themselves with greetings from “Hiya” to “Namaste!” and “Witam!” They then squire viewers month by month past occasions ranging from catching a double-decker school bus to Commonwealth Day, Pongal, and Eid al-Fitr. Tables display Yorkshire puddings and mushy peas in January and paratha and sarnies in September; favorite activities include cheese rolling and gathering for a Boxing Day viewing of The Snowman on the telly—perhaps with some of Mum’s fruit mince pie and mulled wine for refreshments. A similarly varied cast poses in companion A Scottish Year amid somewhat more parochial nods to neeps and tatties, whisky and haggis, An Fhèis Mhór, and St Andrew’s Day. The scattered one-sentence comments in both titles may leave non-Anglophiles in the dark about, for instance, the Blackpool Illuminations, but they generally convey the gist of each event, and the cartoon illustrations put up bright faces and spots of color even for such solemn occasions as Remembrance Day. Each volume closes with a highly stylized map, plus a proper if too-inconspicuous disclaimer that the aim was to be inclusive rather than comprehensive.
No more than a quick shuffle, but for young readers who can Mind the Gap, the flavour does come through. (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-921966-86-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: EK Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 5, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
Score one for cleanliness. Like (almost) all Munsch, funny as it stands but even better read aloud, with lots of exaggerated...
The master of the manic patterned tale offers a newly buffed version of his first published book, with appropriately gloppy new illustrations.
Like the previous four iterations (orig. 1979; revised 2004, 2006, 2009), the plot remains intact through minor changes in wording: Each time young Jule Ann ventures outside in clean clothes, a nefarious mud puddle leaps out of a tree or off the roof to get her “completely all over muddy” and necessitate a vigorous parental scrubbing. Petricic gives the amorphous mud monster a particularly tarry look and texture in his scribbly, high-energy cartoon scenes. It's a formidable opponent, but the two bars of smelly soap that the resourceful child at last chucks at her attacker splatter it over the page and send it sputtering into permanent retreat.
Score one for cleanliness. Like (almost) all Munsch, funny as it stands but even better read aloud, with lots of exaggerated sound effects. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-55451-427-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Annick Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 7, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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IN THE NEWS
Yarlett takes poor advantage of the format, as readers see only half of the correspondence, but the premise and punny names...
A lad finds a big red dragon in his basement and wisely seeks expert advice about its care and feeding in this epistolary episode.
Young Alexander’s missives (there are no cellphones, nor parents, in sight) are mostly paraphrased rather than shown, but each response comes as a small note folded into a pocket that’s been printed and shaped like an envelope: “Douse it in water right away!” writes panic-stricken fire chief H.Y. Drant; find it a large house or castle, advises B. East of World Animal Welfare; “fatten it up,” suggests Angus Teak the butcher (“Look forward to [eating, scratched out] meeting your dragon”) with sinister relish. Boy and dragon have wonderful times together, but the ultimate realization that dragons really don’t make good pets leads the narrator to follow the written advice of best friend Hillary (“the wisest person I knew”) and set it free. The later arrival of a slightly burned picture postcard in the “post” reassures him that the dragon won’t be forgetting to keep in touch. The human figures in Yarlett’s cartoon illustrations are either white or have their heads cut off at the page top. With the exception of the pasted-on postcard from the dragon at the end, all of the correspondence is removable and thereby losable.
Yarlett takes poor advantage of the format, as readers see only half of the correspondence, but the premise and punny names add some appeal. (Novelty. 6-8)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-61067-818-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kane Miller
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2018
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