Review by New York Times Review
It wouldn't seem possible to make high school jocks, popular girls and losers fresh and hilarious, but Yoo does it. His Romeo and Juliet story is a winner (outcast Albert Kim with popular girl Mia? No way), but it's Albert's ice-dry telling of his tale of woe that sets it apart. From his uncool Korean parents with their "legitimately tragic childhoods" to the angry little kids next door ("a barrage of iceballs arc overhead like grenades"), Albert views growing up with all the comic sweetness and unsentimentality it deserves. POSY By Linda Newbery. Illustrated by Catherine Rayner. Atheneum. $16.99. (Ages 2 to 5) The kitten in this handsome book conducts classic feline maneuvers (playing with yarn, pouncing, laundry-inspecting) that could draw in cat lovers of any age. All swirly stripes, whiskers and looks of surprise, Posy is undeniably cute. Newbery and Rayner 's book, though, would have been stronger with a story line of some kind; young readers might not find enough of a reason to have a second or third look after absorbing the appealing pictures. WE CAN'T ALL BE RATTLESNAKES By Patrick Jennings. HarperCollins. $15.99. (Ages 8 to 12) The wisecracking and irritable-sounding narrator here is definitely something different: "I am a snake. ... a gopher snake." Gunnar, the child who has captured "Crusher" ("He thinks I'm male. I'm not"), dumps her in a tank near his other pets: "a tarantula, a desert tortoise and an alligator lizard." The other creatures are at first unfriendly, refusing to communicate telepathically, but soon they are joining forces and Crusher is methodically planning her escape. Her seen-it-all voice, and the twists and turns of Jennings's plot, make for an engaging and very funny story. ERIKA-SAN Written and illustrated by Allen Say. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. $17. (Ages 4 to 8) Say's book makes a case for following your dreams, however inchoate and even ... dreamlike they are. An old picture of a house in the Japanese countryside captivates Erika, an American girl. She studies Japanese at school and after college goes to Japan to teach. At first Tokyo is disappointing; it's not "old Japan" and nothing feels right. But then she finds an island town and a friend who shows her around by bicycle. In the end they marry and move to a small farmhouse, "home at last." DINOTHESAURUS Prehistoric Poems and Paintings. Written and illustrated by Douglas Florian. Atheneum. $17.99. (Ages 6 and up) Florian's whimsical rhyming text contains helpful lessons: for example, how to pronounce "Micropachycephalosaurus," for "small, thick-headed lizard," or "Plesiosaur" - "we always say PLEASE before we might bite." A bit of dinosaur lore follows: "What kept the Spinosaurus warm /When it was colder than the norm?/ Spines much like a solar panel./ (And long underwear of flannel.)" The underwear part might be misleading, but Florian's art - in gouache, collage, colored pencil, stencils, etc. - is gorgeous and fun. OPEN THE DOOR TO LIBERTY A Biography of Toussaint L'Ouverture. By Anne Rockwell. Illustrated by R. Gregory Christie. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. $18. (Ages 9 to 12) The story of L'Ouverture, who led a successful rebellion in the French slave colony of St. Domingue - now Haiti - is full of cruel reversals. An eloquent leader (John Adams was an admirer), L'Ouverture resisted unnecessary violence, but failed to build on his victory and died in a French prison. Rockwell succeeds admirably in explaining a complicated life, and the American-primitive-style drawings are a good match. But there is no simple or uplifting moral to the story of this tragic hero. JULIE JUST
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [October 27, 2009]
Review by Booklist Review
Cat owners will see their own pets in Posy. Brown-, black-, and gold striped Posy is described in delightfully rhymed couplets. She is a whiskers wiper / crayon swiper. A sandwich checker / board-game wrecker. All the descriptions of Posy invite funny depictions of the goings-on, but Rayner keeps the art, rendered in watercolor pencil-crayons, acrylics, and ink, as minimalist as the text, with the focus always on Posy as she romps across creamy vanilla-colored pages. That doesn't mean opportunities for fun are lost. Posy the leaf collector treads under a tree where the fallen leaves caught in her fur give her quite a different appearance, and the kitty fills a two-page spread where she is clearly a playful wrangler / knitting tangler, enmeshed in pink yarn. A fine choice for children who are just tuning in to the playfulness of words, this is also an intriguing choice for new readers, who will stretch their skills to spend more time with Posy.--Cooper, Ilene Copyright 2009 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-K-Posy is a ".whiskers wiper,/crayon swiper./Playful wrangler,/knitting tangler." Rendered in watercolor pencil crayons, acrylic, and India inks, she sometimes dominates the broad cream-colored spreads or divides a page into several vignettes with her actions. Color is used sparingly, allowing readers to focus on the striped and spotted feline. While grown-ups, particularly cat lovers, will be charmed by the stylized art, children will notice in the kitten's daily activities much of what interests them, too-chasing spiders, puzzling over mirrors, inspecting socks hanging from a clothesline, and cuddling with Mom at the end of the day. This book is well suited for sharing one-on-one, allowing youngsters to study the pictures up close and giving adults the chance to emphasize the playfulness of the text.-Kara Schaff Dean, Walpole Public Library, MA (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
This ode to kittenhood stars an adorable feline named Posy. Generous white space gives her plenty of room to explore Rayner's effectively spare illustrations, mostly sepia-tone with well-placed pops of color. Newbery's creatively descriptive rhyming couplets ("...whiskers wiper, / crayon swiper. / Playful wrangler, / knitting tangler") make for an entertaining read-aloud. (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
A curious kitten tumbles around the house doing such silly cat things as spider-catching and sofa-scratching. Newbery's prose"Posy! / She's a... / whiskers wiper, / crayon swiper. / Playful wrangler, / knitting tangler"is as bouncy as her subject, and her characterizations will be easily recognized by anybody who shares living space with a feline. The brief text puts a spotlight on the illustrations, and they deserve it: Rayner's watercolor-and-ink creations are what separates this from other cute-kitty tales. The scribbly texture of the ink and the softness of the tabby-toned watercolors create an opposing energy that almost animates the images and serves Posy's pouncing, clawing and rolling well. The simplicity of telling that allows these images to take center stage creates a format dilemma, howeverwith only four to eight words per spread, the text seems more suited for a board book, but the beauty of the illustrations demands the large trim and creamy, matte stock. Preschoolers and even toddlers may well wish for more substance to support the sophisticated visuals. (Picture book. 2-4) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
