Clorinda Takes Flight
PreSchool-Grade 3—The adventuresome cow returns. Clorinda is determined to fly and enlists the help of Hop the pig and Len the farmhand. Using scavenged parts, the three cobble together a plane (powered by Len's washing machine), a rocket (with canister vacuums), and a helicopter (a rowboat with oar "blades"), but each vehicle crashes. The trio finally succeeds with a hot-air balloon stitched together out of clothes from Len's wash line and filled with air heated by using sunlight and mirrors. Clorinda and Hop glide across the ocean for a visit with the Queen of England. Luckily, the generous monarch sends back a box of tea (wrapped in a Union Jack) for Len, who was unintentionally left behind. Never missing a beat, Kinerk's rhyming text celebrates friendship and cooperation: "Len, Hop, and the cow made a very good team./The guys kept her working, and she helped them dream." Kellogg's mixed water-based medium paintings show the immensity of the world and the characters' imaginations. The artist perfectly captures light, from buttery dawn to the indigo of space, and a fantastic in-between of a cloud-studded sky. Comic images abound, such as a rear view of Hop being knighted. Great fun for one-on-one sharing.—Gay Lynn Van Vleck, Henrico County Library, Glen Allen, VACopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.