Transitioning independent readers looking for a funny, fast read need look no further.
Three animal friends help a bird find its missing mama.
With a long body and short legs, dachshund Hotdog awakes one morning to find he has a stuffy nose. Undaunted by his olfactory obstacle, he ventures out to meet friends Lizzie the lizard, who can “blend in with almost everything,” and Kevin, a corpulent cat whose owners like to dress him in costume (his disguise du jour is a cow). The trio happens upon an adorable baby bird fallen from its nest and decides to help it find its mother by crossing a river, visiting a farm, and flying a kite. Reading like an updated version of P.D. Eastman’s beloved Are You My Mother, the tale sets the animals to asking every bird they encounter (a duck, a rooster, and a penguin) if they are indeed the bird’s mother, eliciting giggles from readers who surely know they are not. Do’s short chapters and bouncy prose play with type size and color, easing recent graduates of the Eastman classic into independent reading, and McGuiness’ cheerfully silly caricatures feel comfortably familiar. The plot is familiar too—it falls to Hotdog to save the day, buoyed by cohorts who play into the comedy—giving transitioning readers a comfortable scaffold. This is the first in a proposed series; sequel Party Time! publishes simultaneously.
Transitioning independent readers looking for a funny, fast read need look no further. (Fantasy. 7-9)Pub Date: May 5, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-338-58720-3
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look...
Winning actually isn’t everything, as jazz-happy Rooster learns when he goes up against the legendary likes of Mules Davis and Ella Finchgerald at the barnyard talent show.
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look good—particularly after his “ ‘Hen from Ipanema’ [makes] / the barnyard chickies swoon.”—but in the end the competition is just too stiff. No matter: A compliment from cool Mules and the conviction that he still has the world’s best band soon puts the strut back in his stride. Alexander’s versifying isn’t always in tune (“So, he went to see his cousin, / a pianist of great fame…”), and despite his moniker Rooster plays an electric bass in Bower’s canted country scenes. Children are unlikely to get most of the jokes liberally sprinkled through the text, of course, so the adults sharing it with them should be ready to consult the backmatter, which consists of closing notes on jazz’s instruments, history and best-known musicians.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-58536-688-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
A nifty high-seas caper for chapter-book readers with a love of adventure and a yearning for treasure.
It’s not truffles but doubloons that tickle this porcine wayfarer’s fancy.
Funke and Meyer make another foray into chapter-book fare after Emma and the Blue Genie (2014). Here, mariner Stout Sam and deckhand Pip eke out a comfortable existence on Butterfly Island ferrying cargo to and fro. Life is good, but it takes an unexpected turn when a barrel washes ashore containing a pig with a skull-and-crossbones pendant around her neck. It soon becomes clear that this little piggy, dubbed Julie, has the ability to sniff out treasure—lots of it—in the sea. The duo is pleased with her skills, but pride goeth before the hog. Stout Sam hands out some baubles to the local children, and his largess attracts the unwanted attention of Barracuda Bill and his nasty minions. Now they’ve pignapped Julie, and it’s up to the intrepid sailors to save the porker and their own bacon. The succinct word count meets the needs of kids looking for early adventure fare. The tale is slight, bouncy, and amusing, though Julie is never the piratical buccaneer the book’s cover seems to suggest. Meanwhile, Meyer’s cheery watercolors are as comfortable diagramming the different parts of a pirate vessel as they are rendering the dread pirate captain himself.
A nifty high-seas caper for chapter-book readers with a love of adventure and a yearning for treasure. (Adventure. 7-9)Pub Date: June 23, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-37544-3
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2015
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