Cute art but buggy text.
Together, George and Grandad figure out the best way to enjoy bugs.
George is a blond, white child who excitedly accompanies white-bearded Grandad on a trip to the Museum of Wildlife. The big-eyed, cartoony characters move quickly past large-animal displays to Grandad’s favorite room, which is crowded with framed specimens of “creatures much smaller and stranger, and Grandad loved them.” George returns home, dreaming of all kinds of bugs, and sets off the next day to find bugs and collect them. Comical scenes depict him failing at early attempts, but he finally becomes a “master bug catcher,” storing all manner of live bugs in glass containers with holes in the lids. Oddly, the contraption used for grabbing a butterfly looks lethal despite George’s self-admonishment of “CAREFULLY!” In what seems to be a very short time, George admires his specimens—stored in his treehouse—then goes home to dinner, noticing as he does that something is off in his garden. Next day, Grandad confirms George’s realization that all the bugs are gone from the now-sick garden. There ensues a double-page spread of lecturing from Grandad, after which George sadly releases the bugs. Grandad redeems both characters with a suggestion that eventually creates something far better than the bug room at the museum. The final, joyous double-page spread—which includes kids of varying skin tones—makes the final sentence as unnecessary as swatting a long-dead fly.
Cute art but buggy text. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: April 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5415-9634-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Andersen Press USA
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it.
A succession of animal dads do their best to teach their young to say “Dada” in this picture-book vehicle for Fallon.
A grumpy bull says, “DADA!”; his calf moos back. A sad-looking ram insists, “DADA!”; his lamb baas back. A duck, a bee, a dog, a rabbit, a cat, a mouse, a donkey, a pig, a frog, a rooster, and a horse all fail similarly, spread by spread. A final two-spread sequence finds all of the animals arrayed across the pages, dads on the verso and children on the recto. All the text prior to this point has been either iterations of “Dada” or animal sounds in dialogue bubbles; here, narrative text states, “Now everybody get in line, let’s say it together one more time….” Upon the turn of the page, the animal dads gaze round-eyed as their young across the gutter all cry, “DADA!” (except the duckling, who says, “quack”). Ordóñez's illustrations have a bland, digital look, compositions hardly varying with the characters, although the pastel-colored backgrounds change. The punch line fails from a design standpoint, as the sudden, single-bubble chorus of “DADA” appears to be emanating from background features rather than the baby animals’ mouths (only some of which, on close inspection, appear to be open). It also fails to be funny.
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 9, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-250-00934-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
A funny tale about stress and an ever upping ante, with a comforting end.
Something is preventing Owl from falling asleep.
Owl leans back against his white pillow and headboard. “Squeek!” says something underneath the bed. Owl’s never heard that sound before, so he fastens his pink bathrobe and answers the front door. Nobody. It must be the wind; back to bed. Bidding himself goodnight, he climbs into bed—and hears the noise again. Time after time, he pops out of bed seeking the squeaker. Is it in the cupboard? He empties the shelves. Under the floor? He pulls up his floorboards. As Owl’s actions ratchet up—he destroys the roof and smashes the walls, all in search of the squeak—so does his anxiety. Not until he hunkers down in bed under the night sky (his bed is now outdoors, because the house’s roof and walls are gone), frantically clutching his pillow, does he see what readers have seen all along: a small, gray mouse. In simple illustrations with black outlines, textured coloring, and foreshortened perspective, Pizzoli plays mischievously with mouse placement. Sometimes the mouse is behind Owl or just out of his sightline; other times, the mouse is on a solid, orange-colored page across the spread from Owl, which removes him from Owl’s scene in a rather postmodern manner. Is the mouse toying with Owl? Who knows?
A funny tale about stress and an ever upping ante, with a comforting end. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: April 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4847-1275-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2016
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