There are plenty of old, larger-than-life characters who are more closely associated with the Mississippi River than Jean Lafitte and are being forgotten as the years slip into the mists of time. The legendary Mike Fink, Bob Hooker, and even James Eads, who opened the South pass of the America’s Great River, deserve to be remembered. So why Fox, in his debut for children, decided to hoist Lafitte onto the level of John Bunyan and other tall-tale heroes is a mystery. Eschewing Lafitte’s French roots and his membership in a Privateer pre-mafia, Fox concocts a brand-new character with a familiar name (spelled differently) who, in the best tradition of remarkable legends, is able to walk and swim almost immediately. When a whale swims upriver from the Gulf of Mexico and blocks all water coming down, Laffite comes up with an ingenious way to move the whale and turn the tide. And in true big-country-hero style, he finishes by digging a huge lake (Ponchartrain), thinly because the whale would have someplace to go if he returns rather than providing the people with an alternative if the river were blocked again. Cook’s (Lapin Plays Possum, 2002, etc.) illustrations, usually fun and right on for southern fables, come up soggy in this outing, perhaps because the whale is too cute or because Cook’s loose style doesn’t suit the shadings and odd perspectives needed to paint this tall tale grandly. The story is told in good fun and well enough for the unwashed, but muddies the history and myth of a river that has forgotten more interesting lore than this. (Picture book. 4-7)
Pub Date: April 3, 2003
ISBN: 0-374-33669-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2003
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share.
In this latest in the series, Little Blue Truck, driven by pal Toad, is challenged to a countryside race by Racer Red, a sleek, low-slung vehicle.
Blue agrees, and the race is on. Although the two start off “hood to hood / and wheel to wheel,” they switch positions often as they speed their way over dusty country roads. Blue’s farm friends follow along to share in the excitement and shout out encouragement; adult readers will have fun voicing the various animal sounds. Short rhyming verses on each page and several strategic page turns add drama to the narrative, but soft, mottled effects in the otherwise colorful illustrations keep the competition from becoming too intense. Racer Red crosses the finish line first, but Blue is a gracious loser, happy to have worked hard. That’s a new concept for Racer Red, who’s laser-focused on victory but takes Blue’s words (“win or lose, it’s fun to try!”) to heart—a revelation that may lead to worthwhile storytime discussions. When Blue’s farm animal friends hop into the truck for the ride home, Racer Red tags along and learns a second lesson, one about speed. “Fast is fun, / and slow is too, / as long as you’re / with friends.”
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9780063387843
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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