Percy doesn’t seem to have much of a destiny beyond chasing his favorite ball, but perhaps that is the point.
A black-and-white dog plays with his canine pals at a dog park, culminating in an encounter with a feisty, ball-stealing squirrel.
Percy is a bright-eyed dog of indeterminate breed, with a long, skinny tail and a black spot over one eye. He narrates the story with just a few words and a snappy attitude, using witty expressions such as “my little porkie pie” as a nickname for his beloved, special ball. (The genially archaic, repeated “What ho!” may raise more than a few eyebrows, given its unfortunate homonymic relationship to the modern slur.) Percy meets up with his three canine friends at the dog park, each having brought along a favorite toy. Molly is a standard poodle who carries a bandanna, Oatmeal Raisin Cookie is a dachshund with a Frisbee, and Fluffy is a huge, fierce-looking but gentle fellow toting a correspondingly huge bone. At the park, the dogs play together until a sassy squirrel faces off with Percy, trying to steal his ball. When the squirrel swipes Percy’s ball and then flings it from a tree, Fluffy solves the problem by leaping up to catch it. Minimalist, digitally produced illustrations use white backgrounds and a muted color palette to complement the sophisticated tone of the text. Percy’s long, pointed tail (presumably in perpetual motion) is frequently depicted as three distinct appendages; since there are no motion lines to help readers decode this, it appears that the dog is a tri-tailed anomaly.
Percy doesn’t seem to have much of a destiny beyond chasing his favorite ball, but perhaps that is the point. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-59078-984-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: Dec. 20, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2017
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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