Definitely not a beginner’s ABC book, but the visual and print punnery will have elementary kids (and adults) guessing and...
Help! The letter E has fallen (down the stairs) and can’t get up!
Get ready to chortle over this zany alphabet book, which poses as a mystery with the letters as the cast of characters, aided by some exclamation points. When E takes a tumble in the alphabet’s crowded communal quarters, all the others are concerned. A takes action, as always, calling the ambulance and assembling the alphabet to determine who will take E’s place. “O, you're the obvious option because you’re so well-rounded.” An announcement is made on television not to “uso! E! until! sho! rocovors!” D and C go to Washington to alert the "govornmont," while the other letters talk it up on talk shows. Then A decides to take a road trip to spread the word: “Pack your bags, lottors. It’s timo for a journoy!” When E just doesn’t get better, the search is on for the culprit who’s broken the letter law. The comic illustrations and the comments from the letters totally exaggerate the cleverness and fun while amusingly emphasizing the importance of the letter E in our language. Lichtenheld’s co-author developed the basic concept in a video, Alphabet House, and it is a rich one.
Definitely not a beginner’s ABC book, but the visual and print punnery will have elementary kids (and adults) guessing and laughing. (Alphabet picture book. 7-10)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-8118-7898-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 6, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2011
With a rhythm and rhyme that never falter, Slade offers readers insect-themed word problems: “Four hungry honey bees / dance...
Rhyming verse presents buggy word problems that can all be solved using multiplication.
With a rhythm and rhyme that never falter, Slade offers readers insect-themed word problems: “Four hungry honey bees / dance a buggy beat— / tappin’ with six furry legs. / How many dancing feet? / 4 x 6 = ?” The 11 multiplication facts, seemingly randomly chosen, each include one of the numbers from one to 11. While no doubt good practice the first time through, it precludes repeated readings and incorporates only a smattering of facts. Hunter, with specialties in entomological and botanical illustration, truly makes the text come alive. Her insects are realistically detailed and seem ready to crawl right out of the pages. But while they are fascinating to look at, they are not always the easiest to use as counters in answering the problems. The ladybug spots and walking stick parts are too small to count, and for those not in the know, the soldier ants appear to have only one pair of eyes rather than the five eyes of the math problem. Backmatter includes extensive information and questions to help readers learn more about insects. A final page provides a multiplication table as well as a breakdown of each problem from the text.Pub Date: Aug. 10, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-60718-128-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sylvan Dell
Review Posted Online: July 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2011
It doesn’t make a lick of sense, but it’s great value per page.
This book is the best cartoon that Hanna-Barbera never made.
Benji has more money than he can count. He may be even wealthier than Richie Rich or Scrooge McDuck, so he can spend all his time searching for lost dinosaurs and flying into space with an eccentric scientist. He earned his fortune by designing an app that generates excuses. (“I’m a kid” works in almost any situation.) As soon as Benji becomes a zillionaire, he buys himself a space station. “[I]t’s a great place to keep my zoo,” he tells an interviewer. If Benji had had a TV show back in the 1970s, fans would be fighting over his toys right now on eBay. Not a single moment of the story is plausible. Benji’s adventures are funnier than anything that happened to Jonny Quest or Josie and the Pussycats. The book wasn’t written in the 1970s, so the pace is much faster than Jonny Quest. On one page, the characters are building a chicken coop near an airplane hangar. On another, they’re saving the world from an asteroid. Benji looks exactly the way a cartoon character should, in any time period: one part Richie Rich, one part Scott Pilgrim. Vimislik’s illustrations are like everything in the book: not at all realistic but very, very funny.
It doesn’t make a lick of sense, but it’s great value per page. (Humorous adventure. 7-10)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4342-6419-0
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Capstone Young Readers
Review Posted Online: Nov. 16, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2013
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