There are many ways to make your fortune, as a boy and his father serendipitously find when they relocate to the Klondike wilderness during the gold rush. Noah disobeys his father’s wishes by bringing the family cat, Shadow, on the arduous journey to their new home in gold country. Noah and his Pa must work hard to move the huge bulk of supplies downriver, and Pa condescends to allow Shadow along if she is no trouble, therefore Noah balances his heavy loads with concerns over the beloved kitty. With hard work, courage, and aplomb, the pair reaches their goal in the end only to find the gold claims are either staked already or too expensive. There is no room for sentimentality in the Klondike, and Lawson (Destination Gold!, not reviewed, etc.) never mentions what has happened to the mother, but she uses other realistic touches such as the kitty disappearing into the ship on the first leg of the trip, creating a believable slice of robust American pioneer history. She trudges her characters up hill, down dale, and over a snow-covered mountain to a hard-flowing river. In the end, Shadow brings them luck and financial reward so the trio can start their new lives together after all. Mombourquette’s (Fog Cat, 1999, etc.) illustrations are broad brushed and colorful, evoking the gritty spirit that opened this last frontier. A lengthy historical note includes a synopsis of the actual history of the territory and era addressed in the story. (Picture book 5-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2002
ISBN: 1-55337-013-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2002
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with...
Reynolds and Brown have crafted a Halloween tale that balances a really spooky premise with the hilarity that accompanies any mention of underwear.
Jasper Rabbit needs new underwear. Plain White satisfies him until he spies them: “Creepy underwear! So creepy! So comfy! They were glorious.” The underwear of his dreams is a pair of radioactive-green briefs with a Frankenstein face on the front, the green color standing out all the more due to Brown’s choice to do the entire book in grayscale save for the underwear’s glowing green…and glow they do, as Jasper soon discovers. Despite his “I’m a big rabbit” assertion, that glow creeps him out, so he stuffs them in the hamper and dons Plain White. In the morning, though, he’s wearing green! He goes to increasing lengths to get rid of the glowing menace, but they don’t stay gone. It’s only when Jasper finally admits to himself that maybe he’s not such a big rabbit after all that he thinks of a clever solution to his fear of the dark. Brown’s illustrations keep the backgrounds and details simple so readers focus on Jasper’s every emotion, writ large on his expressive face. And careful observers will note that the underwear’s expression also changes, adding a bit more creep to the tale.
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with Dr. Seuss’ tale of animate, empty pants. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 22, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0298-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
The wriggly narrator of Diary of a Worm (2003) puts in occasional appearances, but it’s his arachnid buddy who takes center stage here, with terse, tongue-in-cheek comments on his likes (his close friend Fly, Charlotte’s Web), his dislikes (vacuums, people with big feet), nervous encounters with a huge Daddy Longlegs, his extended family—which includes a Grandpa more than willing to share hard-won wisdom (The secret to a long, happy life: “Never fall asleep in a shoe.”)—and mishaps both at spider school and on the human playground. Bliss endows his garden-dwellers with faces and the odd hat or other accessory, and creates cozy webs or burrows colorfully decorated with corks, scraps, plastic toys and other human detritus. Spider closes with the notion that we could all get along, “just like me and Fly,” if we but got to know one another. Once again, brilliantly hilarious. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-06-000153-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Joanna Cotler/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2005
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