During a treacherous winter storm, a family anxiously waits for their mail-carrier father to come home. In a unique and effective design, readers are also held in suspense, anticipating the title page, which appears on the eighth page of the story, after the tension is built. The mother “worries up” some rolls in the kitchen while the protagonist, Thomas, stares out the window and looks forward to his father’s return with visions of together-time playing in the snow. But when the father comes home, he is ill. The family tends to him, riveted by his tales of braving the storm; although he cannot participate in snowball fights or sledding, the children are happy that he’s safely home where he belongs. Catalanotto combines winter watercolors and pencil to create contrasts in the cozy safety of home and the chilling blizzard outside; above full-color scenes of the family are two-color visions, realistic (playing in the snow) and imaginary (an angel speeding the father home). Through the narrative and illustration technique, two stories emerge—one of family togetherness, and another of a dedicated, hardworking hero. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-531-06871-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orchard
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1998
Categories: CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS
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A charmingly prolix tall tale of a boy so word-obsessed that he collects new words on slips of paper. They bulge from his pockets, float around his head and fill his world. Classmates nickname Selig “Wordsworth” and give him a word for his collection: “oddball.” The discovery that his purpose in life is to share his carefully chosen words with others leads to success and love. And, “if, one day, . . . the perfect word just seems to come to you . . . you’ll know that Selig is near.” Schotter’s words are enlivened by Potter’s distinctively naïve figures, all placed in settings in which words and labels are scattered about in a way that invites close inspection and promotes purposeful inquiry. It all adds up to an *exultant encounter, chockablock with tintinnabulating gusto (*see tantalizing glossary appended). A gift to precocious children and teachers as well. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: March 28, 2006
ISBN: 0-375-83601-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2006
Categories: CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Listeners will quickly take up the percussive chorus—“Dump it in, smash it down, drive around the Trashy town! Is the trash truck full yet? NO”—as they follow burly Mr. Gilly, the garbage collector, on his rounds from park to pizza parlor and beyond.
Flinging cans and baskets around with ease, Mr. Gilly dances happily through streetscapes depicted with loud colors and large, blocky shapes; after a climactic visit to the dump, he roars home for a sudsy bath.
Part of a spate of books intent on bringing the garbage collectors in children’s lives a little closer, this almost matches Eve Merriam’s Bam Bam Bam (1995), also illustrated by Yaccarino, for sheer verbal and visual volume. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: April 30, 1999
ISBN: 0-06-027139-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1999
Categories: CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S TRANSPORTATION
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