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Library | Call Number | Status |
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Searching... Mount Angel Public Library | E KIRK | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Jefferson Public Library | P KIRK, D. | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
A simple and colourful ABC book that also tells a story - Miss Spider's friends prepare a surprise party for her, during the course of which children will learn the alphabet, and about insects and their colors, all in one delightful package. "Kirk turns his vibrant oil paints to a celebration of letters and bugs." - School Library Journal
Author Notes
The uncommonly unique imagination of David Kirk has an equally uncommon source. "I found a small copy of The Gnomes' Almanac by a little-known Viennese author Ida Bohtta Morpugo. It was a cutout book simply subtitled: A Book for Children. In it, the pictures and verse about bugs, butterflies, and mice really came to life." That got him drawing and writing. Before that he made children's toys by hand. "I love making stories. The bookmaking process is a liberation for me from the years I toiled to produce handmade items. I think the life of a children's book author is bliss." Kirk lives in upstate New York, with his wife and three daughters.For more information about David Kirk, visit: scholastic.com/tradebooks
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-Kirk turns his vibrant oil paints to a celebration of letters and bugs. Brightly colored insects work their way through the alphabet as they prepare a surprise birthday party for Miss Spider. Vocabulary such as "fireflies fandango" and "owlflies ogle" makes this offering less of a concept book or easy reader and more of an appreciation of the alphabet. The story will work one-on-one or in group settings with an adult to explain the more difficult phrases. The neon-bright, almost three-dimensional illustrations are detailed but not too cluttered. The text complements the paintings as the partygoers await the guest of honor, who arrives riding a zebra butterfly. Appealing to a younger audience than Miss Spider's Tea Party (1994) and much gentler than Miss Spider's Wedding (1995, both Scholastic), this book makes a child-friendly addition to the series.-Martha Link, Louisville Free Public Library, KY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Celebration is de rigueur among Miss Spider's friends, and this ebullient primer shows party preparations in progress from A to Z: "Bumblebees blow balloons./ Caterpillars circle/ dragonfly decorations." All sorts of insects assist, from moths whose white- and black-spotted wings resemble velvety floor-length capes to termites who tote colorful wrapped presents in their mandibles. At the end of the sequence, Miss Spider floats in on the back of a striped Zebra butterfly and receives a welcoming shout of "Happy Birthday!" from the buggy assembly. Kirk (Miss Spider's New Car) sets the activity in a flowery garden and a hornets' nest; he substitutes gently waving antennae for paper streamers in the closing scene. His dew-bright oil paintings glow with the fluorescent yellow-green of fandango-ing fireflies, shades of backlit midnight-blue and lush lavender-rose hues. Each oversize letter of the alphabet appears near the text, so that readers have an easy reference point as they scan the vivid artwork. Devotees will detect their returning favorites: Holley hides among the "smiling spiders" taking shelter beneath the red roses, and May and Ike greet the termites beside the "very vivid violets." Kirk's witty rhymes and the ever polite Miss Spider's hostessing talents are absent this time around, but the juiced-up, color-saturated illustrations are thrilling all the same. Ages 4-7. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
Insects, from ants and bumblebees to yellowjackets and zebra butterflies, are all preparing a surprise party--but for whom? For Miss Spider, of course. Kirk's text here is simpler and far less forced than his earlier Miss Spider adventures, while his oil paintings, color-saturated close-ups of bugs from [cf2]A[cf1] to [cf2]Z[cf1], retain the same gaudy, garish appeal. From HORN BOOK Spring 1999, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Ages 4^-8. That popular, iridescent arachnid, Miss Spider, is back for her fourth outing. This time, instead of poetry, the format is an ABC book featuring mostly bugs, with a few other garden denizens, including a hummingbird and an earthworm. Miss Spider herself appears at the end, when it turns out that all the creatures have been preparing for a surprise party to celebrate her birthday. Going back through the book brings added delights. Children will be able to find the signs of the surprise to come, such as party hats and presents. Kirk once again uses his signature style--intense colors ingeniously painted with shiny reflections, backlighting, and varying degrees of focus, giving his pictures the luminescence of a video. Most libraries will want multiples. --Susan Dove Lempke