Egan (A Mile From Ellington Station, 2001, etc.) ventures onto William Steig territory with an offbeat Halloween tale about a porcine short-order cook discovering the true meaning of courage. When his car breaks down one stormy October night, Sheldon nerves himself to approach a spooky, nearby mansion—and suddenly finds himself strapped to a table, blown up to four times normal size by a cackling mad scientist bent on world domination. Then he’s hurriedly ejected into the dark woods because the mind control part of the transformation doesn’t take. As evil Dr. Vermin can turn himself into an inoffensively small mouse at will, Sheldon is almost discredited when he leads concerned neighbors back to the mansion. But the plucky piggie unmasks the villain in the nick of time, then tests a potion that restores him and other victims to normalcy. In simply drawn settings, Egan poses stubby-limbed human and animal figures with small but expressive facial features that reflect the tongue-in-cheek tone. Like Sylvester, Pearl, Caleb, or, for that matter, Dr. De Soto, Sheldon learns that inner stuff is more important than outer form or size. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2002
ISBN: 0-618-13224-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2002
The elephant thunders out his boast—``No one can bring me down!''—and the monkey's talking drum sends the challenge echoing across the plains. The leopard, the crocodile, even the rhinoceros are easily vanquished, but not the little bat: she bites the elephant's ear until he drops to the ground to rub it. Sierra's retelling of this folktale collected in Cameroon is suitably vigorous; in Pinkney's swirling scratchboard illustrations, the animals (except, of course, the bat) are huge, gnarled, and solid. Colorful and dramatic. (Folklore/Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-525-67366-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1992
During Valentine's week, second-grader Mattie exchanges an amusing series of gifts with a ``secret friend''—dreaded class rowdy Jeb—who is also her secret admirer; during spring vacation, she peddles pesky little brother Emmett, finds a taker- -and promptly realizes that she misses him; and, in a summer episode that links the other two, she and Jeb build a treehouse and give Emmett a disastrous haircut. There's not much subtlety here, either in the events or in Lehman's bold, cartoony b&w art, but the narrative is brisk and appealing, the plotting reasonably deft, the feelings genuinely childlike. A satisfactory early chapter book for kids not quite ready for the Haywoods. (Fiction. 6-8)
Pub Date: May 15, 1992
ISBN: 0-688-09730-8
Page Count: 48
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1992
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