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McClintock, Barbara
8 Reviews
(1)
PS
Daredevil Annie has a big imagination--and a plan. In her sleek racing car, Annie zooms out of her second-floor bedroom window; then, gleefully bypassing all geographical logic, drives up a mountain; through a desert, a forest, and a city; and across a finish line (first place!). Dynamic illustrations reinforce Annie's racecar love with details in her racecar-themed bedroom, where she ends her epic journey, in bed reading a book with her family.
Reviewer: Julie Danielson
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
September, 2019
(4)
K-3
A girl performs martial arts poses from a book, unleashing each form's titular, chaos-wreaking creature (crane, leopard, snake, and dragon). An offbeat story with delightfully kinetic art, but purists may fault McClintock's abandonment of the usual fifth form of southern Chinese martial arts, the Tiger, for a convenient "final form [that] returns everything to the way it was" before Mom returns home.
Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt
(1)
PS
McClintock follows young Emma as she goes to her ballet lesson and professional dancer Julia as she attends company class and rehearsals, pointing out similarities in their days ("Both teachers make them work very, very hard"). A lively mix of page layouts keeps the pattern fresh--as do several differences between the characters. This is an engaging and matter-of-factly diverse (Julia is African American) behind-the-curtain look at a ballet dancer's life.
Reviewer: Katie Bircher
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
January, 2016
(3)
K-3
Adèle and her younger brother, Simon, toured Paris and America in previous books. Now they are traveling around China with their uncle Sidney. Adèle's postcards home to their mother in France document where they go and what object Simon loses in each place. Discerning readers may seek and find the missing object in each of McClintock's exquisite pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations. Historical details are appended.
Reviewer: Kristy Pasquariello
(2)
K-3
Absent-minded Simon's possessions are unintentionally redistributed throughout America when the Parisian siblings from Adèle & Simon go on a cross-country tour. There's plenty for readers to spot in McClintock's carefully researched, invitingly detailed illustrations. Concluding notes contribute to appreciation of the elaborate visual content; a historical endpaper map recapitulates the journey.
Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
September, 2008
(2)
K-3
Adèle and her brother, Simon, wend a circuitous path through early twentieth-century Paris. Simon is distracted by the many fascinating sights, such as a parade and puppets, and he loses his possessions (hat, books, sweater) one by one. Alert readers will find both children and Simon's things in meticulously detailed spreads. There are endnotes about the settings; an endpaper map (from the 1907 Baedeker) details the children's route.
Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
September, 2006
(1)
K-3
Charlotte, who likes "digging in dirt and climbing trees," is disgruntled to receive a prissy doll from her aunt. When her aunt visits, Charlotte does her best to make herself and Dahlia the doll respectable; though Dahlia "was muddy and torn...her face was softened into a sweet, warm smile." McClintock subtly traces the doll's transformation. The Victorian drawings provide a mischievous contrast to this tale of a liberated lass.
Reviewer: Susan P. Bloom
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
September, 2002
(2)
K-3
As in the Dickens story from which it's drawn, this wishbone is a fishbone. After her Fairy Godmother explains that Molly, a little cat, will have just one wish, her siblings urge her to wish for candy or toys. But wise Molly holds out for something really important. The simple story is well paced and effectively phrased for sharing aloud. The delicately rendered illustrations offer charming Victorian-era details.
Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
January, 2002
8 reviews
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