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32 pp.
| Barron's
| November, 2007
|
TradeISBN 978-0-7641-6061-5$14.99
(3)
K-3
Illustrated by
Arthur Robins.
Small Knight doesn't feel brave. Nevertheless, he's sent on a quest to fight a fierce dragon because "that's what knights do." Instead of doing battle, he brings a friendly dragon home, much to the surprise of the royal court, and everyone learns to live together happily. Cheerfully busy cartoon illustrations show a lively medieval setting.
32 pp.
| Barron's
| December, 2006
|
TradeISBN 0-7641-5998-4$14.99
(4)
K-3
Illustrated by
Arthur Robins.
On Christmas Eve, Mother and Father Christmas put fussy Baby Christmas in a little sleigh harnessed to Rudolph Junior. When the reindeer discovers that he can fly, they take off, whirling around the world (nicely echoed in the text design), while Mother and Father search for them. The Quentin Blake–like illustrations are delightfully silly, but the story lacks a satisfying ending.
32 pp.
| Barron's
| October, 2004
|
TradeISBN 0-7641-5802-3$14.95
(3)
K-3
Illustrated by
Arthur Robins.
"By an itzy bitzy house, / Down a twisty turny lane, / A twitchy witchy mouse / Is sitting in the rain." He and a similarly wet and homeless cat, puppy, and goat are all ultimately welcomed inside the titular house by a kind old man. The kinetic, cartoony drawings, mainly in secondary hues, ensure that the taut, unfailingly snappy rhymes never seem cutesy.
56 pp.
| Candlewick
| June, 2002
|
TradeISBN 0-7636-1385-1$$10.99
(3)
K-3
Illustrated by
Arthur Robins.
Bertie, a very small dog, outwits a burglar by challenging him to a series of bets, the last of which ("I bet I can bark louder than you") brings round the police, who arrest the burglar and give Bertie a medal. With its energetic illustrations, spot-on humor, engaging sound effects, and entirely satisfying outcome, this book wins all bets.
(4)
PS
Illustrated by
Arthur Robins.
A boy tells of his brother's adventures with aliens on the planet Ziffoid. The story uses a quickly predictable pattern in which details that sound terrible turn out to be good and things the reader expects to be good are instead bad. The story is silly and well matched to the sketchy, cartoon illustrations, but the gimmick may not hold up well on repeat readings.
(3)
K-3
Illustrated by
Arthur Robins.
This version of the familiar scary tale of the teeny tiny woman who finds a teeny tiny bone is simply illustrated in squiggly pen-and-ink line with watercolor wash. A vaudevillian ambiance is enhanced by viewpoints that show the action as though set on a stage and by sherbet-hued backgrounds that shimmer as if lit by stage lighting.