This chimp is a worthwhile companion; young readers will no doubt answer his call.
Ten classic tales serve as backdrops for one primate’s book-hopping adventures at a local library.
Every time Willy walks through a pair of nondescript black doors, he knows to expect “something incredible” to happen on the other side. Aboard a ship he hides inside an apple barrel and overhears a sailor named Long John Silver plot for treasure and murder. In a forest, he encounters an old woman who asks him to plunge into a “very deep and very dark” hollow tree trunk to retrieve a tinderbox. Browne applies subtle stylistic differences to each world he re-creates, reimagining well-known stories for adult and child readers alike. Half the thrill arises from wondering what will come next for Willy. The subsequent momentum steadily encourages curiosity, an effect heightened when the chimp directly poses questions to readers (“Can you guess what happened next?”). Whether in Wonderland or the Wild Wood, actual books appear as trees, houses, and even the teeth of a monstrous sea creature, hinting at the underlying role of books in shaping imagination. Details specific to each story vary in degree from spread to spread, but Willy remains a constant source of amusement during every excursion. His good-humored facial expressions say more about each tale than words do.
This chimp is a worthwhile companion; young readers will no doubt answer his call. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Nov. 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7636-7761-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Sept. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2015
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An immersive, charming read and convincing proof again that even small bodies can house stout hearts.
Can knightly deeds bring together a feathered odd couple who are on opposite daily schedules?
Having won over a dragon (and millions of fans) in the Caldecott Honor–winning Knight Owl (2022), the fierce yet impossibly cute nocturnal, armor-clad owlet faces a new challenge—sleep deprivation—in the wake of taking on Early Bird, a trainee who rises with the sun and chatters interminably: “I made pancakes! Do you like pancakes? I love pancakes! Where’s the syrup?” It’s enough to test the patience of even the knightliest of owls, and eventually Knight Owl explodes in anger. But although Early Bird is even smaller than her mentor, she turns out to be just as determined to achieve knighthood. After he tells her to leave, she acquits herself so nobly in a climactic encounter with a pack of wolves that she earns a place at the castle. Denise proves a dab hand at depicting genuinely slinky, scary wolves as well as slipping cheerfully anachronistic newspapers and other sight gags into his realistically wrought medieval settings to underscore the tale’s tongue-in-cheek tone. Better yet, a final view of the doughty duo sitting down together to a lavish pancake breakfast/dinner at dusk ends the episode in a sweet rush of syrup and bonhomie.
An immersive, charming read and convincing proof again that even small bodies can house stout hearts. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9780316564526
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
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