Those who have enjoyed Pig’s other adventures in badness will likely love this one, and the obviously frequent mentions of...
Pig loves things that stink…including himself.
“Pig liked to get dirty. / He frankly was RANK. / His paws could be frightful. / His fur often stank.” Pig rolls in garbage and spoiled milk; he even plays with poo! He’s not offended by smells—not even by his wiener-dog buddy’s butt! Calls for bathtime make him run, and he’s very good at escaping, evading, and hiding. He sneaks away and jams a rubber-bone toy up the bathtub spigot. Then, being the nasty scamp that he is, he boogies with glee right in the tub, taunting his owner—until the plumbing explodes, bonking him in the nose with the faucet. From then on he doesn’t balk at bathtime…but that doesn’t change the fact that he often stinks to high heaven. Pig returns from his native Australia (where the book was titled Pig the Grub) to teach another lesson by setting a bad example. Blabey’s gleefully rancid creation scampers across the pages covered in (and liberally spreading) green and brown goo, and his pong is as visible as his owner’s face is not. With his bulging eyes and general nastiness, Pig is definitely an acquired taste; that this is his fifth outing is ample proof that many have done so.
Those who have enjoyed Pig’s other adventures in badness will likely love this one, and the obviously frequent mentions of things potty-related will recruit new fans. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: April 30, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-33754-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
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PERSPECTIVES
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
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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