The series is starting to suffer from its now-overfamiliar pattern, but those seeking a glossy, positive image of Russia...
Using a combination of Russian and English words to fit into the English alphabet structure, the author tries to summon up a grand picture of Mother Russia.
Most pages have one large color photo, generous white space, a line of traditional embroidery design that matches the color of the design behind each set of English letters—capitals and smalls—and a narrow photo border. (The Cyrillic letters are not used—an unfortunate choice, as that might have made the book more interesting.) A short paragraph describes each photo. The emphasis is on Russia today, although references to the Kremlin, the Winter Palace and the Queen (or Tsaritsa) allude to the past. The Communist period is obliterated, although the Revolution is mentioned. Bowing to children’s interests, topics include: “G is for Gymnastics,” “M is for Matryoshka” (nesting dolls), “Y is for Youth Club” and “Z is for Zenit,” a famous football club (soccer team). Meant for the armchair traveler or for introducing a social studies unit, this skims the surface of this largest country on Earth.
The series is starting to suffer from its now-overfamiliar pattern, but those seeking a glossy, positive image of Russia complete with “E is for Easter eggs” (with its wooden folk-art eggs contrasted with Fabergé eggs), can glean a sense of contemporary life and the rich history behind it. (Informational photo essay. 6-9)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-84780-102-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Frances Lincoln
Review Posted Online: Nov. 1, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2011
An uncomplicated opener, with some funny bits and a clear but not heavy agenda.
Hank Zipzer, poster boy for dyslexic middle graders everywhere, stars in a new prequel series highlighting second-grade trials and triumphs.
Hank’s hopes of playing Aqua Fly, a comic-book character, in the upcoming class play founder when, despite plenty of coaching and preparation, he freezes up during tryouts. He is not particularly comforted when his sympathetic teacher adds a nonspeaking role as a bookmark to the play just for him. Following the pattern laid down in his previous appearances as an older child, he gets plenty of help and support from understanding friends (including Ashley Wong, a new apartment-house neighbor). He even manages to turn lemons into lemonade with a quick bit of improv when Nick “the Tick” McKelty, the sneering classmate who took his preferred role, blanks on his lines during the performance. As the aforementioned bully not only chokes in the clutch and gets a demeaning nickname, but is fat, boastful and eats like a pig, the authors’ sensitivity is rather one-sided. Still, Hank has a winning way of bouncing back from adversity, and like the frequent black-and-white line-and-wash drawings, the typeface is designed with easy legibility in mind.
An uncomplicated opener, with some funny bits and a clear but not heavy agenda. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-448-48239-2
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2014
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Fans both young and formerly young will be pleased—100 percent.
Published in magazines, never seen since / Now resurrected for pleasure intense / Versified episodes numbering four / Featuring Marco, and Horton and more!
All of the entries in this follow-up to The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories (2011) involve a certain amount of sharp dealing. Horton carries a Kwuggerbug through crocodile-infested waters and up a steep mountain because “a deal is a deal”—and then is cheated out of his promised share of delicious Beezlenuts. Officer Pat heads off escalating, imagined disasters on Mulberry Street by clubbing a pesky gnat. Marco (originally met on that same Mulberry Street) concocts a baroque excuse for being late to school. In the closer, a smooth-talking Grinch (not the green sort) sells a gullible Hoobub a piece of string. In a lively introduction, uber-fan Charles D. Cohen (The Seuss, The Whole Seuss, and Nothing but the Seuss, 2002) provides publishing histories, places characters and settings in Seussian context, and offers insights into, for instance, the origin of “Grinch.” Along with predictably engaging wordplay—“He climbed. He grew dizzy. His ankles grew numb. / But he climbed and he climbed and he clum and he clum”—each tale features bright, crisply reproduced renditions of its original illustrations. Except for “The Hoobub and the Grinch,” which has been jammed into a single spread, the verses and pictures are laid out in spacious, visually appealing ways.
Fans both young and formerly young will be pleased—100 percent. (Picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-385-38298-4
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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