A third cat tale is on the way—cat fanciers, get ready.
Meow. Following Macavity: The Mystery Cat (2016), another devious cat from T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats (originally published in 1939) makes his appearance. This time, it’s Mr. Mistoffelees.
“For performing surprising illusions… // And creating eccentric confusions. / At prestidigitation / And at legerdemain / He’ll defy examination / And deceive you again.” Even great magicians have something to learn from Mr. Mistoffelees. Whether cutting a dog in half, performing card tricks, or doing stunts with a cork or a knife and spoon, there’s no doubt that Mr. Mistoffelees is a magical cat! As in the earlier companion book, it’s Robins’ lively, clever illustrations that pull the humor out of the hat and animate the story. Children will cheer as he sneaks through an impossibly tiny crack to snatch a very large fish and then slinks off with it “on the narrowest rail” of an ornamental fence. It doesn’t matter that young kids will not be familiar with the original source; they will simply be delighted with the rhyming text and the reactions to his humorous acts. Mr. Mistoffelees is a jaunty, disheveled charmer, black fur, red vest, and striped bow tie with top hat (of course) and magic wand. The hand-lettered text adds to the sprightliness.
A third cat tale is on the way—cat fanciers, get ready. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Oct. 11, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-571-32222-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories.
Kids know vegetables can be scary, but rarely are edible roots out to get someone. In this whimsical mock-horror tale, carrots nearly frighten the whiskers off Jasper Rabbit, an interloper at Crackenhopper Field.
Jasper loves carrots, especially those “free for the taking.” He pulls some in the morning, yanks out a few in the afternoon, and comes again at night to rip out more. Reynolds builds delicious suspense with succinct language that allows understatements to be fully exploited in Brown’s hilarious illustrations. The cartoon pictures, executed in pencil and then digitally colored, are in various shades of gray and serve as a perfectly gloomy backdrop for the vegetables’ eerie orange on each page. “Jasper couldn’t get enough carrots … / … until they started following him.” The plot intensifies as Jasper not only begins to hear the veggies nearby, but also begins to see them everywhere. Initially, young readers will wonder if this is all a product of Jasper’s imagination. Was it a few snarling carrots or just some bathing items peeking out from behind the shower curtain? The ending truly satisfies both readers and the book’s characters alike. And a lesson on greed goes down like honey instead of a forkful of spinach.
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 21, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0297-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
Chilling in the best ways.
When a young rabbit who’s struggling in school finds a helpful crayon, everything is suddenly perfect—until it isn’t.
Jasper is flunking everything except art and is desperate for help when he finds the crayon. “Purple. Pointy…perfect”—and alive. When Jasper watches TV instead of studying, he misspells every word on his spelling test, but the crayon seems to know the answers, and when he uses the crayon to write, he can spell them all. When he faces a math quiz after skipping his homework, the crayon aces it for him. Jasper is only a little creeped out until the crayon changes his art—the one area where Jasper excels—into something better. As guilt-ridden Jasper receives accolade after accolade for grades and work that aren’t his, the crayon becomes more and more possessive of Jasper’s attention and affection, and it is only when Jasper cannot take it anymore that he discovers just what he’s gotten himself into. Reynolds’ text might as well be a Rod Serling monologue for its perfectly paced foreboding and unsettling tension, both gentled by lightly ominous humor. Brown goes all in to match with a grayscale palette for everything but the purple crayon—a callback to black-and-white sci-fi thrillers as much as a visual cue for nascent horror readers. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Chilling in the best ways. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 23, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5344-6588-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2022
PERSPECTIVES
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