The team that taught students about nouns and verbs, punctuation and silent letters now tackles suffixes…almost literally. On the last day of school, when Mr. Wright announces, “After lunch and our read-aloud, we’ll tackle word endings,” the anthropomorphized suffixes head to the gym to get into shape for the coming melee. Meanwhile, the kids’ atrocious behavior in the lunchroom leads Mr. Wright to skip the read-aloud and go directly to the lesson. Except the lesson has disappeared. Threatened with no summer vacation unless they find the word endings, the kids hang (suffix-less) wanted posters all over the school. Reassured of the students’ good intentions, the suffixes leave clues for them to decode and thus find them, saving not only the kids’ educations but summer vacation as well. As in the previous titles, the words in the text are printed in two colors, allowing the suffixes to stand out from the rest of the text. Reed’s now-signature acrylic-and-digital illustrations are as quirky and colorful as ever. Backmatter includes a page of spelling rules for adding endings to words and a page delineating some different suffixes and how their additions change the root word. While this may not be as strong as the previous titles from this duo, still it is a good addition to their language-arts series. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: March 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-8234-2296-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Feb. 10, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2011
Categories: CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS
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Elephant and Piggie make an appearance to introduce the first in their new series, an egalitarian introduction to superlatives.
Each one of seven blades of talking grass—of a total of eight—discovers that it is superb at something: it’s tallest, curliest, silliest, and so forth. The humor aims to appeal to a broad spectrum. It is slightly disturbing that one being eaten by purple bugs is proud of being the crunchiest, but that will certainly appeal to a slice of the audience. The eighth blade of grass is grappling with a philosophical identity crisis; its name is Walt, a sly reference to Whitman's Leaves of Grass that will go right over the heads of beginning readers but may amuse astute parents or teachers. Tension builds with the approach of a lawn mower; the blades of grass lose their unique features when they are trimmed to equal heights. Mercifully, they are chopped off right above the eyes and can continue their silly banter. Departing from the image of a Whitman-esque free spirit, Walt now discovers he is the neatest. Lots of speech bubbles, repetition, and clear layout make this entry a useful addition to lessons on adjectives and superlatives while delivering a not-so-subtle message that everyone is good at something. Elephant and Piggie's final assertion that “this book is the FUNNIEST” doesn't necessarily make it so, however.
Amusing, yes. Useful for reading practice, yes, but not necessarily guaranteed to make new readers the “read-i-est.” (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4847-2635-8
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
Categories: CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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One empty lot needs two helping hands, three days of cleanup, and so on to become a community garden “full of delicious!”
In, mostly, aerial or elevated views, Vidal’s bright, painted illustrations track the lot’s transformation from a (tidy-looking, admittedly) dumping ground behind a rusty chain-link fence. Echoing the multiethnic and multiracial nature of the group of neighbors who gather to do the work (white-presenting figures are in the minority), the eventual crops include bok choy, collard greens, and kittley along with beans, bell peppers, and cherry tomatoes—all of which end up incorporated in the climactic spread into a community dinner spread out on tables among the planting boxes. Typically of such garden-themed picture-book tributes, the spirit of community and joy at the eventual bounty elbow out any real acknowledgement of the necessary sweat equity (there’s not even a glancing reference to weeding here, for instance) or the sense of an entire season’s passing between planting and harvest. Also, as that public feast is created by considerably more than “Ten newfound friends,” the counting is just a conceit. Mullen closes with notes on the actual garden in Minneapolis that inspired her and on making gardens bee-friendly.
It breaks no new ground, but even the worms are smiling. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: March 3, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-58089-889-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
Categories: CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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