Kùai, the hungry younger brother in a large Chinese family, never gets enough to eat. Straight from the fire, the food is too hot to touch. If he waits for it to cool, his brothers beat him to it. Frustrated, Kùai devises a way to get the food first. While his family washes for dinner, Kùai snatches two pieces of kindling, sits down at the table, and spears a steaming sweet potato with one stick and a sizzling chicken chunk with the other. Inspired, his family fetches sticks themselves. They name them Kùai zi, or “quick ones,” after the quick-witted boy. As the story goes, “this was the first time that a family in China ate dinner with sticks instead of their hands.” When Kùai and his brothers whip the sticks out at a wedding buffet, their idea catches on. The wise Mr. Lee commands the family to visit the village elders, whom he convinces that using Kùai zi does not violate any Chinese rules for eating. Word reaches the Emperor and soon, people throughout China start using chopsticks. Compestine (The Runaway Rice Cake, 2000) concocts a delicious blend of fact and fiction. But children may wonder why Kùai can put the too-hot food in his mouth and not in his hands. An author’s note explains the true origins of chopsticks, leaving out Compestine’s fabled details. Back matter also includes directions for using chopsticks and a recipe. Burning questions aside, Compestine’s charming tale deserves a place in the multicultural curriculum. Xuan’s richly colored traditional Chinese cut paper illustrations lend authenticity. (Picture book. 5-10)
Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2001
ISBN: 0-8234-1526-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Readers will be waiting to see how Charlie faces his next challenge in a series that marks a lovely change of pace from the...
Charlie Bumpers is doomed. The one teacher he never wanted in the whole school turns out to be his fourth-grade teacher.
Charlie recalls third grade, when he accidentally hit the scariest teacher in the whole school with his sneaker. “I know all about you, Charlie Bumpers,” she says menacingly on the first day of fourth grade. Now, in addition to all the hardships of starting school, he has gotten off on the wrong foot with her. Charlie’s dry and dramatic narrative voice clearly reveals the inner life of a 9-year-old—the glass is always half empty, especially in light of a series of well-intentioned events gone awry. It’s quite a litany: “Hitting Mrs. Burke in the head with the sneaker. The messy desk. The swinging on the door. The toilet paper. And now this—the shoe on the roof.” Harley has teamed once again with illustrator Gustavson (Lost and Found, 2012) to create a real-life world in which a likable kid must face the everyday terrors of childhood: enormous bullies, looming teachers and thick gym coaches with huge pointing fingers. Into this series opener, Harley magically weaves the simple lesson that people, even teachers, can surprise you.
Readers will be waiting to see how Charlie faces his next challenge in a series that marks a lovely change of pace from the sarcasm of Wimpy Kid. (Fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-56145-732-8
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Emergent readers will like the humor in little Pip’s pointed requests, and more engaging adventures for Otto and Pip will be...
In his third beginning reader about Otto the robot, Milgrim (See Otto, 2002, etc.) introduces another new friend for Otto, a little mouse named Pip.
The simple plot involves a large balloon that Otto kindly shares with Pip after the mouse has a rather funny pointing attack. (Pip seems to be in that I-point-and-I-want-it phase common with one-year-olds.) The big purple balloon is large enough to carry Pip up and away over the clouds, until Pip runs into Zee the bee. (“Oops, there goes Pip.”) Otto flies a plane up to rescue Pip (“Hurry, Otto, Hurry”), but they crash (and splash) in front of some hippos with another big balloon, and the story ends as it begins, with a droll “See Pip point.” Milgrim again succeeds in the difficult challenge of creating a real, funny story with just a few simple words. His illustrations utilize lots of motion and basic geometric shapes with heavy black outlines, all against pastel backgrounds with text set in an extra-large typeface.
Emergent readers will like the humor in little Pip’s pointed requests, and more engaging adventures for Otto and Pip will be welcome additions to the limited selection of funny stories for children just beginning to read. (Easy reader. 5-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-689-85116-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2003
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