THE MISADVENTURES OF DON QUIXOTE

Name: THE MISADVENTURES OF DON QUIXOTE
Author: Tom Lathrop
ISBN: 978-0-94256658-1

retold by Tom Lathrop illustrated by Jack Davis ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 4, 2012

Cramped page design aside, an appealing first exposure for younger readers that highlights the story’s comedy over its...

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An abbreviated version of the best-ever cautionary tale about the hazards of reading too much (among other things), played for laughs and matched to comical caricatures for illustrations.

Lathrop covers a select few of the original’s high spots in his plainly told paraphrase. Looking hilariously lanky and cross-eyed in Davis’ loosely drawn and colored cartoons, the bookish Don sets out in too-small armor to seek knightly glory. He chooses an oblivious peasant girl as his Dulcinea (“because dulce means ‘sweet’ in Spanish,” the reteller helpfully notes) and mounts Rocinante (“rocín means ‘old nag,’ and ante means ‘before,’ signifying that his horse used to be an old nag but wasn’t one anymore”). With his wise fool neighbor, Sancho Panza, as witness, he charges off to battle a windmill, a herd of sheep, a hapless wineskin and a cage of sleepy lions. Though buck-toothed and dopey of aspect, Sancho Panza gets his own chance to shine as he earns a bag of gold escudos judging several legal cases before Quixote is at last unhorsed by a concerned friend and agrees to take a year off from questing.

Cramped page design aside, an appealing first exposure for younger readers that highlights the story’s comedy over its satire and sentiment. (Picture book. 6-8)

Pub Date: July 4, 2012

ISBN: 978-0-94256658-1

Page Count: 32

Publisher: LinguaText

Review Posted Online: May 29, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2012

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

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RALPH TELLS A STORY

by Abby Hanlon & illustrated by Abby Hanlon ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 18, 2012

An engaging mix of gentle behavior modeling and inventive story ideas that may well provide just the push needed to get some...

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With a little help from his audience, a young storyteller gets over a solid case of writer’s block in this engaging debut.

Despite the (sometimes creatively spelled) examples produced by all his classmates and the teacher’s assertion that “Stories are everywhere!” Ralph can’t get past putting his name at the top of his paper. One day, lying under the desk in despair, he remembers finding an inchworm in the park. That’s all he has, though, until his classmates’ questions—“Did it feel squishy?” “Did your mom let you keep it?” “Did you name it?”—open the floodgates for a rousing yarn featuring an interloping toddler, a broad comic turn and a dramatic rescue. Hanlon illustrates the episode with childlike scenes done in transparent colors, featuring friendly-looking children with big smiles and widely spaced button eyes. The narrative text is printed in standard type, but the children’s dialogue is rendered in hand-lettered printing within speech balloons. The episode is enhanced with a page of elementary writing tips and the tantalizing titles of his many subsequent stories (“When I Ate Too Much Spaghetti,” “The Scariest Hamster,” “When the Librarian Yelled Really Loud at Me,” etc.) on the back endpapers.

An engaging mix of gentle behavior modeling and inventive story ideas that may well provide just the push needed to get some budding young writers off and running. (Picture book. 6-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2012

ISBN: 978-0761461807

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Amazon Children's Publishing

Review Posted Online: Aug. 21, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2012

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

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CHESTER VAN CHIME WHO FORGOT HOW TO RHYME
by Avery Monsen ; illustrated by Abby Hanlon

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DORY FANTASMAGORY, HEAD IN THE CLOUDS
by Abby Hanlon ; illustrated by Abby Hanlon

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DORY DORY BLACK SHEEP
by Abby Hanlon ; illustrated by Abby Hanlon

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MUD PUDDLE

by Robert Munsch & illustrated by Dušan Petričić ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2012

Score one for cleanliness. Like (almost) all Munsch, funny as it stands but even better read aloud, with lots of exaggerated...

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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)