Van Draanen's first book has a crackling pace, funny lines, and an iron-willed heroine with a knack for putting herself in the center of all the action. Sixth-grader Carolyn doesn't act like a girl, and doesn't look much like one either, clad in boys clothing and wearing her hair very short. She likes to spy on the neighbors with her two brothers, play stickball, and dig foxholes in the backyard. Of girls who play with dolls and wear too much lace, she has low opinions, and hardly counts herself in the girl camp at all until some unfamiliar feelings surface for her stickball buddy, Charlie. When her baby sister, Nancy, is born, Carolyn decides that being a girl is really okay, now that she has an ally in the family. The era in which the story takes place is never specified, and while Carolyn's voice is contemporary, some of the problems she faces are dated, e.g., having to wear a dress to school and being unable to have her own paper route because she is a girl. Regardless, her irreverent narration is engaging and she's refreshingly astute about family and neighborhood dynamics. Blithely entertaining. (Fiction. 8-11)
Pub Date: March 31, 1997
ISBN: 0-06-026671-6
Page Count: 163
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Industrious Tsugele shocks her tradition-minded parents by announcing that she won't marry any man who isn't as reliable as her trusty besom. After rejecting two suitors, she strikes out on her own and finds a job in a nearby town. One morning her broom disappears; hunting for it, she meets an extremely thin, hard-working man with kind eyes and a stiff shock of golden hair. It's love at first sight. His name? Broom, of course. Tsugele accepts the miracle uncritically; readers may find the ending rather sudden, but will certainly pick up on Tsugele's happy independence. As usual, the simple gestures and comically exaggerated expressions Zimmer gives his figures closely reflect the story's turns while broadening the humor; woven woodcut borders around each scene, plus the characters' peasant dress, give this original tale a traditional air. (Picture book. 8-10)
Pub Date: March 30, 1993
ISBN: 0-06-020986-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1993
BOOK REVIEW
In her brief text, Collard develops the theme that ``no animal exists just to scare, hurt, or disgust us''; still, her two dozen selections (bats, tarantulas, vultures, giant squid, piranhas, etc.) all get their kid appeal from their infamous reputations. The point of view puts an odd spin on some of her facts: ``Sharks don't cry, but they are sensitive'' and ``don't seem to like the taste of people very much''; ``Scorpions are not friendly, but they will not attack you either,'' etc. Some facts are also inconsistent with other sources: the Tasmanian devil is ``really just a small, shy animal'' that ``likes [nothing] better than...basking in the warm sun,'' whereas Kathy Darling (in Tasmanian Devil, 1992) describes the animal as nocturnal and states that ``All Tassie devils are naturally ill-tempered and aggressive.'' The last animal here is a ``Razor-Tooth Slime-Encrusted Bone-Muncher,'' complete with slobbering purple-and-green portrait; a book of similarly humorous imaginary monsters might be a more appropriate vehicle for this team. (Nonfiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: March 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-88106-491-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1993
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