PLB 0-06-027164-7 Joyce (The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs, 1996, etc.) plays with circles, curls, and curves the way a writer plays with language, creating a visually dazzling story about the everyday capers of a family of round Rolie Polies. Rolie Polie Olie is a toy of a boy, an electro-comic character from a futuristic, alien planet “way up high in the Rolie Polie sky.” In the morning he rolls out of bed, brushes his teeth, and recharges his head. At breakfast he dances the Rolie Polie Rumba dance in underpants, then rides aboard the hip-hop mop to wash his teapot house from tip to top. With a rhyme that would be strained in less sure hands, Joyce takes Olie through a hip-hip-hooray day of play and into bedtime, landing Olie in “a bunch of trouble” until he is “Rolie Polie sad” and misses the nightly kiss on his Rolie Polie head. Computer-generated, digitized backgrounds lend an SF atmosphere to every scene, while the flamboyant colors work in concert to create—appropriately, given the character’s origins—an effect of suspended animation. An eccentric blend of the cinematic and familial that is coming to be known as vintage Joyce. (Picture book. 2-7)
Pub Date: Oct. 31, 1999
ISBN: 0-06-027163-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1999
From Rylant (In Aunt Lucy’s Kitchen, 1998, etc.), a gentle rhyming book for the very young. Mrs. and Mr. Bunny and their numerous offspring find a charming bungalow in a deep gully near a river and move right in. The bunnies set about making the house a home: painting it a pale green, planting a garden, and installing a carrot weathervane. Soon the interior is cozy too, as Mrs. Bunny knits bunny quilts, moves a comfortable rocker into the parlor, and invites bunnies to snuggle on a big couch while she reads poetry aloud. Mr. Bunny helps with bath time, takes the little bunnies fishing, and finds time to sit on the porch swing with his offspring, watching fireflies. The story ends as softly as it begins, in watercolors that are warm and full of childlike humor. Children will identify with the thumb-sucking middle bunny, the bed-bouncing bunny in striped pajamas, and the baby who tosses his bottle out of the crib for the father to pick up. A fetching bedtime book, as snug as they come. (Fiction. 4-6)
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-15-201092-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1999
An alphabetic chronicle of all the necessities for a sleepover is the foundation for this energetic tale about a young girl’s visit with her grandfather. In sprightly rhyming verse, the child proudly displays her indispensable treasures, excavated from an overnight bag that is larger than she is. Items such as Apples, stuffed sleeping pals Bunny and Bear, and Chalk to decorate the sidewalk share space with more mundane articles: Slippers, Toothbrush, and Underwear. Paul incorporates the alphabet into the text, with the featured letters highlighted in bold colors, while Smith’s cheerful watercolors capture the child’s boundless enthusiasm; they also adroitly convey the affectionate bond between grandfather and girl. Demonstrating keen understanding of a child’s universe, this rollicking recitation is a delight. (Picture book. 3-7)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-7894-2511-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: DK Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1999
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