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Beware! BANDITS are on the loose! August 16, 2011

Caution!!! Bandits, has been released into the wild today! Be on the lookout for this book!! It has been spotted at the following places....

Powell's, IndieBound, Macmillan, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and your local bookstore!

 

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 2—Bandits are rarely presented in as endearing a manner as in Wright's delightful book about six troublesome raccoons that prowl the neighborhood digging through trash, stealing, and leaving a mess. The text reads like free verse, and it's clear that the words have been carefully chosen. "But those bandits are careless/Leaving clue after clue/And when they are caught/They will never confess!/Back on the run." The true star of this book is the amazing artwork. The textural, expressive paintings are full of life, movement, and humor. While the artistic process is evident through visible canvas texture and messy lines, each illustration is fully realized. The spread showing the raccoons as "They sneak and they creep" exaggeratedly toward the village at dusk perfectly introduces the rascally animals. Children who have experienced these nighttime visitors will enjoy seeing their version of events and the fanciful depiction of their activities. This quirky little story is best suited for one-on-one or individual reading. Given the chance, these bandits will easily steal readers' hearts with their charming mischief.—Anna Haase Krueger, Antigo Public Library, WI

Publishers Weekly

Wright (The Secret Circus) gives readers their first laugh on the title page, as a family of sweetly dressed raccoons tiptoes past an overturned garbage can. They have fat raccoon bodies, but their arms and legs are black ink lines, the combination of spindly appendages and sly, squinty eyes proving especially hilarious. In loose blank verse, Wright explores the issue of raccoon banditry: "They sneak and they creep./ Doing just what they please./ They snatch and launder whatever they've found." Dark blue night surrounds the masked creatures in their striped T-shirts and lace-edged dresses as Wright parodies westerns ("They head for the hills to split up the loot"), painting the villains solemnly enjoying a basket of fruit on a patched picnic cloth. Fantasy elements proliferate: the raccoons' human adversaries live in cottages shaped like beehives, while the raccoons return to a tree house that rivals that of the Swiss Family Robinson. It's clear that these raccoons are very family oriented and wholesome—except for that powerful compulsion to overturn garbage cans. Readers are meant to cheer for the raccoons against the humans, and they will. Ages 2 6. (Aug.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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