Possum weathers disaster in this gentle, charmingly illustrated, oh-so-timely tale.
Last appearing in Possum and the Peeper (1998), Possum finds himself homeless in his newest adventure.
As a summer storm approaches, Possum gathers his baby possums into their home in their brush pile, which is soon washed away, leaving Possum floating in the flooded creek with his children clinging to his back. From their perch in a tree, Possum assures his children they’ll find a new one, although there is nary a brush pile to be seen. Discovering Possum’s homeless state, a chipmunk helps the little ones dig a burrow on higher ground, but Possum can’t fit into its entrance. After hearing about Possum’s dilemma, Muskrat shows him how to construct a lodge with cattails and mud above the chipmunk burrow. When a wasp adds windows crafted from chewed wood and saliva and an oriole weaves swinging nests from grasses and vines, Possum soon has “the most beautiful home in the world!” Despite Possum’s dire situation, the text remains calm, reassuring, and upbeat. Illustrations in delicate, crosshatched pen-and-ink lines and watercolor washes move from atmospheric storm sequences in which wide-eyed Possum and his adorable babies watch rising water wash them and their home downstream to fascinating close-ups of animals working industriously together above- and belowground.
Possum weathers disaster in this gentle, charmingly illustrated, oh-so-timely tale. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: May 22, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-544-89891-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 18, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2018
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A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
Hee haw.
The print version of a knee-slapping cumulative ditty.
In the song, Smith meets a donkey on the road. It is three-legged, and so a “wonky donkey” that, on further examination, has but one eye and so is a “winky wonky donkey” with a taste for country music and therefore a “honky-tonky winky wonky donkey,” and so on to a final characterization as a “spunky hanky-panky cranky stinky-dinky lanky honky-tonky winky wonky donkey.” A free musical recording (of this version, anyway—the author’s website hints at an adults-only version of the song) is available from the publisher and elsewhere online. Even though the book has no included soundtrack, the sly, high-spirited, eye patch–sporting donkey that grins, winks, farts, and clumps its way through the song on a prosthetic metal hoof in Cowley’s informal watercolors supplies comical visual flourishes for the silly wordplay. Look for ready guffaws from young audiences, whether read or sung, though those attuned to disability stereotypes may find themselves wincing instead or as well.
Hee haw. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-545-26124-1
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2018
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