Thank you for visiting.
This content is exclusive to subscribers only.
As a digital subscriber, you’ll receive unlimited access to Horn Book web exclusives and extensive archives, as well as access to our highly searchable Guide/Reviews Database.
To access other site content, visit The Horn Book homepage.
Log In
Don't have a Horn Book Account?
Register Now
Register Now
Santoro, Scott
4 Reviews
(4)
K-3
When a blizzard scatters the Christmas lawn ornaments of Candy Cane Lane, an abandoned choirboy figure is accidentally sent to the dump. There he meets other discarded decorations, and they embark on a journey back. Despite cheerful digital illustrations and an original concept, the overlong story (reminiscent of holiday TV specials) is further hampered by choppy text.
Reviewer: Russell Perry
(4)
K-3
Miss Thornapple's School for Witches teaches everything that good witches need to know, from the physics of a broom in flight to the chemistry of potions. Some of the story's elements are overly familiar (e.g., traveling to school on a flying bus), and the text's couplets include a few awkward rhymes. Retro cartoonlike illustrations are sometimes effective, sometimes garish.
Reviewer: Rebecca Reed Whidden
(4)
K-3
In a saccharine tale that echoes Virginia Lee Burton's The Little House, the once-proud art-deco-style Little Skyscraper is slowly dwarfed by newer, bigger buildings until it is eventually preserved as a historic landmark. The illustrations, cartoonlike and naive, evoke a feeling of the fifties and sixties with their varied pastel palette.
Reviewer: CHristine Sarrazin
(2)
PS
Isaac feels "a little silly" when compared to the other trucks. He doesn't notice (as sympathetic readers will) that the very trucks he esteems have bored, angry, and tired faces. One day, though, Isaac realizes his importance when some hot, tired firefighters can hardly believe their good fortune at stumbling upon "an ice cream truck, just when you need it most!" Retro-style illustrations in soft colored pencil are tinged with happy nostalgia.
Reviewer: Mary Burkey
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
May, 1999
4 reviews
We are currently offering this content for free. Sign up now to activate your personal profile, where you can save articles for future viewing.