Grade

Grade 1–3—Everyone knows the old nursery rhyme, but this clever picture book focuses on what happens between the spider's being washed out of the waterspout and finding the courage to climb it again. Eensy, embarrassed by her fall, goes into hiding and vows to keep all eight legs on the ground, until her ladybug friend, Polly, encourages her to start small. Eensy faces her fears and climbs a potted plant, then a fireplug, a dog, and a mailbox. Her confidence growing, she scales higher and higher objects, until finally the rocket she climbs takes her to the Moon. With a clever text full of witty asides (the newspaper Spider Insider: All the News That's Fit to Spin covers the story); comical, cartoon illustrations featuring Eensy in a striped scarf; and energetic pacing, this title offers a contemporary take on an old favorite that remains grounded in the emotional world of a child.—Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, Carroll County Public Library, MD (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

position

Grade 4-6–Ozymandias Levinson's problems are far more severe than his mouthful of a name. His father, always jumping from job to job, has just landed a position at Washington, DC's International Spy Museum and Oz has a hard time fitting in. So when a run-in with two bullies brings him into contact with a real spy, he's delighted. Her name is Morning Glory, and she's a clever little field mouse in the middle of a critical assignment. The mice of the world are involved in a kind of Cold War with their rat enemies, led by the unscrupulous and rather disgusting Roquefort Dupont. When he steals the Kiss of Death (a lipstick-sized gun), Glory teams up with Oz for help. Referencing every example of pop-culture espionage from James Bond to Emma Peel, this amusing adventure is sure to catch the eye of those kids already familiar with the spy genre. The book follows in the footsteps of such other rodent undercover works as Margery Sharp's The Rescuers (Little, Brown, 1959), though sadly it lacks the charm of a Miss Bianca to set it apart. Also, as with multiple references to Glory's elegant nose, the book has a penchant for repetition. Frederick is to be commended for the factual information included (since both the Spy Museum and the Kiss of Death exist), though here's hoping that future books in this series are more satisfying than this airy concoction.–Elizabeth Bird, New York Public Library Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Book

Eric Carle lives in Northampton, Massachusetts. Visit the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts.