Review by New York Times Review
Jay and Ray are fed up with being identical twins, "tired of always seeing that question mark in the eyes of the kids at school." So when Ray stays home sick on the first day of sixth grade and only "Jay Grayson" gets called for attendance, the boys dream up a prank: every other day they trade places in class, as well as in homework assignments, crushes and sports tryouts; the other one hides out at home. The plan works brilliantly for a while, and Clements is good at making us believe the brothers would be desperate enough to try it. THE LONESOME PUPPY Written and illustrated by Yoshitomo Nara. Chronicle. $17.99. (Ages 3 and up) Stranger and far more eloquent than Clifford the big red dog, the puppy of this book's title is so huge he straddles the earth: "I was too big for anyone to notice me, and that is why I was always all alone and lonesome." Until one day a tiny, brave girl does notice - "The girl was very surprised. I was surprised, too" - and each makes a friend. The oddly flat, expressionless appearance of the girl is almost off-putting, but the big puppy is a creature to warm up to. THE PENDERWICKS ON GARDAM STREET By Jeanne Birdsall. Knopf. $15.99. (Ages 8 to 12) Birdsall's second novel, a sequel to her National Book Award-winning "Penderwicks," offers comforting comedy in an Austen- and Alcott-like vein. Four years after his wife has died, Mr. Penderwick opens a letter she had written (and entrusted to his sister), urging him to begin dating again. So his daughters spring into action, orchestrating the worst dates they can think of, convinced that he's not ready yet - and neither are they. Subplots converge in a predictable fashion, but the various romantic misadventures (not just Dad's) are appealing. OOPS! By Alan Katz. Illustrated by Edward Korea. Margaret K. McElderry/Simon & Schuster. $17.99. (Ages 4 to 8) Like a goofier Shel Silverstein, Katz finds inspiration for poems in unusual subjecter including penmanship ("my b's all look like d's"), eggs ("they don't have eyes, they don't have legs") bowling alleys and, of course, bathrooms. Keren's drawings give "Oops!" much of its scruffy charm, and a chatty coda shares Katz's own grade-school verse and some early working titles - as well as an idea for a possible sequel, "Uh-Oh." AS GOOD AS ANYBODY Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Joshua Heschel's Amazing March Toward Freedom. By Richard Michelson. Illustrated by Raul Colon. Knopf. $16.99. (Ages 6 to 10) A portrait of one of the more unusual partnerships of the civil rights movement. The book begins with a young Martin, angry at the "whites only" signs all around him. The scene shifts to Warsaw, where Abraham's father tells him, "Walk like a prince, not a peasant." King and Heschel, a minister and a rabbi, grow up to join together in the 1965 march in Selma, Ala., and this book shows how it happened. A BALLOON FOR A BLUNDERBUSS By Alastair Reid. Illustrated by Bob Gill. Phaidon. $14.95. (Ages 4 to 8) A reissue of a 1961 book, "Balloon" is evocative of a more whimsical time in picture books. The handsome retro illustrations in pen and ink - no computers here - complement Reid's text, which suggests a series of outlandish swaps: a butterfly in the hand earns a wishbone, which in turn can be exchanged for a kite with a tail, then a straw hat, until eventually a tower is traded up for a small army (looking like proper tin soldiers) and even "11 towering icebergs." A comical and poetic flight of fancy, and it all makes a kind of sense. JULIE JUST
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [October 27, 2009]
Review by Booklist Review
Japanese pop artist Nara, whose works often feature little girls and dogs, makes his picture-book debut in a story dedicated to physically challenged children everywhere. An enormous dog (so big that when he stands he straddles the Pacific Ocean) is lonely until a little girl notices him. Climbing up to stand on the bridge of his nose, she sings to him. The author concludes that no matter how alone you are, there is always someone, somewhere, waiting to meet you. The artwork features simple, pastel-hued figures drawn with bold strokes. Large eyes are a focal point for many of the figures, and unlike some of Nara's other work, the spreads here appear innocent and tranquil. Young listeners may be confused because the text ends somewhat abruptly, followed by several additional illustrative spreads; but since the artwork is likely to provoke discussion, preschoolers may not even notice the lack of words. This is a quiet tale with limited appeal, but the notion of friendship as an antidote to loneliness will bring comfort to listeners who find the book.--Weisman, Kay Copyright 2008 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Internationally known pop artist Nara paints some fiendishly ironic images, but there's chiefly whimsy in his picture book debut, the story of a chance friendship between a manga-style girl and a huge, lonely puppy. (An airplane flying past the puppy's legs along with the curve of the Earth beneath his paws suggest his size. The girl, whose doll-like facial features make her expression of grim determination all the funnier, bumps into one of the puppy's paws, and then climbs up his leg, leaving a trail of little comic-book puffs of effort. When she finally confronts a monstrous set of puppy eyes, her crabby expression softens. In concluding spreads Nara pushes on into wordless, heavily worked paintings, adding scumbling, pastels and stencils. Playful and surreal, free of earnest messages, these final images will remain in the reader's memory. Ages 3-up. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-A noted Pop artist tries his hand at a children's book with decidedly mixed results. The slight story centers on a dog so big that he straddles the globe and is friendless because no one can actually see him. A little girl finally notices him, climbs up onto his face, and sings to him, and they become friends. "No matter how alone you are, there is always someone, somewhere, waiting to meet you. Just look and you will find them!" The artist uses many close-ups of both the dog and the girl to convey the immensity of the creature and the girl's reaction to him. The book is much more a showcase of one man's distinctive style than a coherent or interesting story. It will appeal primarily to Nara's fans or to libraries with large picture-book art collections.-Marge Loch-Wouters, Menasha Public Library, WI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
A giant puppy is lonely because he's so big that no one notices him. One day a little girl finally sees him, and they become friends. The message: "No matter how alone you are, there is always someone, somewhere, waiting to meet you." Nara's illustrations are accomplished, but the story is disjointed. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Nara is a well-known Japanese artist who specializes in images of dogs and small girls. Here he tries to combine the two elements into an illustrated tale about a lonely, mountain-sized dog that nobody notices and a girl who climbs up through the clouds to befriend it. The result is an incoherent hash, pairing smudgy images of kitschy figures to a text that starts out with the dog's narration, suddenly switches to third person, then disappears--followed by four mystifying wordless spreads, presumably of the two at play, that could be viewed in any order. Equally puzzling is the book's dedication: "To physically challenged children everywhere." If this is a metaphor on disability, it will escape just about everybody but the artist. This won't gain him any young fans, and older ones will find better showcases online. (Picture book. Adult) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
