See Bip grow

K-Gr 2--Space alien Zip's back with smaller, diaper-wearing alien Bip for a new installment of Milgrim's "Adventures of Zip" series. Ball in hand, Zip zaps Bip to "grow tall" so they can "play some ball." As Zip bows proudly--"I am the best! / Far and away!"--Bip continues growing. And growing. And growing. Soon, Bip grows out of frame, big enough to blow away and fly "up, up, up / into the sky." Zip tries to zap Bip back, but the zaps are "much too low" to have any effect. Bip makes it all the way into space--smiling and laughing at every step of the journey. Bip discovers their own zap, shrinks back to small, and falls down toward Zip. Now who's the best? Rhyming text expertly repeats sight words and word families, along with a few "bonus words." With at most six lines per double page spread and around 60 unique words, the text should be accessible to emerging readers just starting to read independently. The book introduces each word in a list before the story so readers can practice before reading. Milgrim's expressive, bold-outlined characters pop off the pages, which have plenty of white space and few background details. The playful sense of scale and dynamic layouts heighten the humor. Discussion questions at the end of book not seen. VERDICT Infectious hilarity and clever repetition make this high-appeal title a standout. Milgrim's latest is extraterrestrial fun that feels like classic cartoon comedy.--Alec Chunn, Eugene P.L., OR

A fun and bouncy adventure for the earliest readers. Join Bip and Zip, two pea-green, antennaed extraterrestrial cartoon friends (or siblings), for another in the Adventures of Zip series. Bip, wearing a diaper, is the younger and smaller of the two. A zap from Zip causes Bip to begin to grow. At first, Bip grows to be just as large as Zip, and the two play ball. Zip wins and smugly celebrates the triumph. But a delighted Bip continues to grow, ballooning until Bip is several times larger than Zip--and also somehow becoming light enough to blow away, rising into the stratosphere. Zip is helpless to save Bip. "Zip's zaps are much too low!" Eventually, Bip effectuates a zap without Zip, becomes small again, and falls back toward Zip. But what luck! When Bip falls, the still-smiling being lands on a ball and is lucky enough to bounce up, up, up again and complete an amazing twisting triple somersault before safely landing. In the end as Bip takes a bow, Zip is forced to declare Bip the "best by far!" Prefacing this stand-alone story are boxes of word families, sight words, and bonus words to practice or review before reading. Most illustrations are compositionally simple, positioning Zip and Bip against plain white backgrounds, and most pages contain just one or two short rhyming sentences. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Zip and Bip have the touch to zap fun into early reading. (Graphic early reader. 4-6) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.