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LO-JACK AND THE PIRATES

Name: LO-JACK AND THE PIRATES
Author: William H. Hooks
ISBN: 0-553-07092-4

by William H. Hooks & illustrated by Tricia Tusa ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 3, 1991

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A ``Bank Street Ready-to-Read'' (Level 3) that combines the Amelia Bedelia variety of comic literal-mindedness and an adventure story with a satisfying final twist. Hijacked by pirates, ``Lo-Jack'' alternately amuses and dumbfounds his captors by misconstruing their orders (whether to ``hit the deck,'' ``weigh the anchor,'' or ``cut the sails''), finally escaping by—instead of firing a cannon at their assailants- -lighting a fire under it and thus blowing up the pirates' ship. Good fun, ably visualized in Tusa's energetic art. (Easy reader. 5-9)

Pub Date: June 3, 1991

ISBN: 0-553-07092-4

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Bantam

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1991

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
FREEDOM'S FRUIT
by William H. Hooks & illustrated by James E. Ransome

- BOOK REVIEW
WHERE'S LULU?
by William H. Hooks & illustrated by R.W. Alley

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GOONEY BIRD GREENE

by Lois Lowry & illustrated by Middy Thomas ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2002

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Gooney Bird Greene (with a silent E) is not your average second grader. She arrives in Mrs. Pidgeon’s class announcing: “I’m your new student and I just moved here from China. I want a desk right smack in the middle of the room, because I like to be right smack in the middle of everything.” Everything about her is unusual and mysterious—her clothes, hairstyles, even her lunches. Since the second graders have never met anyone like Gooney Bird, they want to hear more about her. Mrs. Pidgeon has been talking to the class about what makes a good story, so it stands to reason that Gooney will get her chance. She tells a series of stories that explain her name, how she came from China on a flying carpet, how she got diamond earrings at the prince’s palace, and why she was late for school (because she was directing a symphony orchestra). And her stories are “absolutely true.” Actually, they are explainable and mesh precisely with the teacher’s lesson, more important, they are a clever device that exemplify the elements of good storytelling and writing and also demonstrate how everyone can turn everyday events into stories. Savvy teachers should take note and add this to their shelf of “how a story is made” titles. Gooney Bird’s stories are printed in larger type than the narrative and the black-and-white drawings add the right touch of sauciness (only the cover is in color). A hybrid of Harriet, Blossom, and Anastasia, irrepressible Gooney Bird is that rare bird in children’s fiction: one that instantly becomes an amusing and popular favorite. (Fiction. 6-9)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2002

ISBN: 0-618-23848-4

Page Count: 96

Publisher: Walter Lorraine/Houghton Mifflin

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2002

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
TREE. TABLE. BOOK.
by Lois Lowry

- BOOK REVIEW
THE WINDEBY PUZZLE
by Lois Lowry ; illustrated by Jonathan Stroh

- BOOK REVIEW
THE WILLOUGHBYS RETURN
by Lois Lowry

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PROFESSOR ASTRO CAT'S SPACE ROCKETS

From the Professor Astro Cat series

by Dominic Walliman ; illustrated by Ben Newman ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 4, 2018

Energetic enough to carry younger rocketeers off the launch pad if not into a very high orbit.

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The bubble-helmeted feline explains what rockets do and the role they have played in sending people (and animals) into space.

Addressing a somewhat younger audience than in previous outings (Professor Astro Cat’s Frontiers of Space, 2013, etc.), Astro Cat dispenses with all but a light shower of “factoroids” to describe how rockets work. A highly selective “History of Space Travel” follows—beginning with a crew of fruit flies sent aloft in 1947, later the dog Laika (her dismal fate left unmentioned), and the human Yuri Gagarin. Then it’s on to Apollo 11 in 1969; the space shuttles Discovery, Columbia, and Challenger (the fates of the latter two likewise elided); the promise of NASA’s next-gen Orion and the Space Launch System; and finally vague closing references to other rockets in the works for local tourism and, eventually, interstellar travel. In the illustrations the spacesuited professor, joined by a mouse and cat in similar dress, do little except float in space and point at things. Still, the art has a stylish retro look, and portraits of Sally Ride and Guion Bluford diversify an otherwise all-white, all-male astronaut corps posing heroically or riding blocky, geometric spacecraft across starry reaches.

Energetic enough to carry younger rocketeers off the launch pad if not into a very high orbit. (glossary) (Informational picture book. 6-8)