This wintery pig tale is cute but possibly not cute enough
This little pig went exploring.
Pigloo, an anthropomorphic piglet, wants to go exploring and has big plans to head to the North Pole once it snows. He imagines he’ll see a red-and-white–striped pole and maybe a polar bear. His parents and big sister, Paisley, voice playful concerns about his chances and caution him to be patient and brave. As an aside, his sister also reminds him that “Admiral Byrd already found” the North Pole (Robert Peary isn’t the only one who would beg to differ). After some practice dog sledding with his stuffed animals (a bear and a unicorn) in his bedroom, snow finally falls, and Pigloo heads out only to discover that Paisley has beat him to a spot with a red-and-white pole and a polar bear—her stuffed animal. Sibling play ensues at the spot that Paisley has clearly set up, and then they head inside for snacks and report on their adventure to their doting parents. The watercolor and graphite illustrations are appealing and sweet throughout, though the rather precious vision of American exploration of the polar region alongside dog sled play, “igloo” building, and the protagonist’s very name may leave some readers cold. Why not just go sledding and build snow forts?
This wintery pig tale is cute but possibly not cute enough . (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 25, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-62779-202-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2016
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
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
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