Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... McMinnville Public Library | Bottner | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Mount Angel Public Library | ER BOTTNER | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Bernie and Lisa get even with Bootsie Barker, who is terrorizing their ballet class.
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-3Fans of Bootsie Barker Bites (Putnam, 1992) will be disappointed with this second story about the irrepressible bully. Lisa convinces her friend Bernie to take ballet lessons with her. Of course, Bootsie, meaner than ever, decides to join the class, where the teacher admires the overweight girl's efforts. Bernie narrates, explaining all of Bootsie's nasty and disruptive routines. Revenge is achieved by locking her outside in a downpour and smiling at her. Karas's style, which highlights exaggerated body features, gives the story a dark, foreboding mood. This makes the comic element seem cruel. Children who read this without prior expectations may enjoy the underdog-beats-bully theme. Those who remember the first Bootsie won't recognize her.Sharon R. Pearce, San Antonio Public Library, TX (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
Redoubtable bully Bootsie Barker ('Bootsie Barker Bites') makes her beginning-reader debut in a surprisingly dreary story, in which Bootsie disrupts ballet class until Lisa and Bernie outwit her. The text is peppered with French ballet terms and phrases for ballet enthusiasts--but Bootsie's insufferable behavior is not likely to win her many new fans. Luckily, Karas's scratchy illustrations add humor. From HORN BOOK 1997, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Bully Bootsie Barker (Bootsie Barker Bites, 1992) returns, this time in the I Can Read series; subtle stereotypes, depicted by a different illustrator (Peggy Rathmann illustrated the original) detract from the humor that made Bootsie a villain readers loved to hate. Lisa asks her friend Bernie to attend ballet class with her because she's afraid of encountering Bootsie. Bootsie spies Bernie and announces, ""I HATE ballet,"" adding, ""I hate boys even more."" Dance class goes down the tubes, as Bootsie muscles her way through pliâs and relevâs. When Bootsie dances out her version of a tornado, Bernie and Lisa let her spin her way right out the door. Bernie's constant seeking of reassurances about ballet class from his basketball coach comes across as apologetic, making ballet a means to improving his game, instead of an end in itself. Bootsie's unrelenting meanness works as well here as it did in her debut, but Karas's illustrations throw the story off: In a classroom where all the other students are relatively small and thin, Bootsie is fat; her bullying becomes synonymous with her size, and sets the stage for mean-spirited associations between looks and behavior. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Gr. 1^-2. Bottner's original Bootsie book, Bootsie Barker Bites (1992), was a wickedly delightful picture book. Readers looking for more of the same will find this beginning reader less successful, and it lacks the Koolaid brightness and dramatic exaggeration of Peggy Rathmann's illustrations. The title character is still an unrepentant bully, however, and this story is narrated by a boy who is victimized by Bootsie in their ballet class. His determination to quit ballet is tempered by his basketball coach's urgings to keep it up, since dancing is improving his game. Eventually Bootsie antagonizes even the ballet teacher and engineers her own catastrophic downfall. Every kid who knows a bully (and isn't that every kid?) will enjoy watching Bootsie Barker get her comeuppance in the end. Karas' expressive drawings, washed with restrained colors, add their own brand of humor to the book. For larger collections. --Carolyn Phelan