The full facts about human reproduction, ingeniously set in a story about parents who are offering their son and daughter some whimsical explanations—``You were delivered by a dinosaur'' or ``Sometimes you just find them under stones''—while the humor of these possibilities is dramatized in Cole's vibrant, cartoony illustrations. After Mom avers, ``You can grow them from seeds...Or just squeeze them out of tubes!'' and Dad chimes ``Mommy laid an egg,'' the kids take the discussion in hand. Laughing off the nonsense and remarking that ``You were right about the SEEDS, the TUBE, and the EGG,'' they describe what really happens, illustrating with explicit kindergarten-style drawings—a remarkably innovative way to offer diagrams that are clear without being uncomfortably detailed; there are even four ``ways mommies and daddies fit together,'' their faces expressing engagingly childlike glee. The lesson continues until ``out pops the baby.'' ``So now YOU know,'' conclude the sensible tots to their wide-eyed parents (whose cheeks have gone much pinker, the only suggestion that this could be embarrassing), ``...and so does everyone else,'' as they open the door to a slew of animals and their young. For those who choose to share these specifics with young children, a notably fresh, matter-of-fact approach. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: June 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-8118-0350-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1993
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Echoes of Runaway Bunny color this exchange between a bath-averse piglet and his patient mother. Using a strategy that would probably be a nonstarter in real life, the mother deflects her stubborn offspring’s string of bath-free occupational conceits with appeals to reason: “Pirates NEVER EVER take baths!” “Pirates don’t get seasick either. But you do.” “Yeesh. I’m an astronaut, okay?” “Well, it is hard to bathe in zero gravity. It’s hard to poop and pee in zero gravity too!” And so on, until Mom’s enticing promise of treasure in the deep sea persuades her little Treasure Hunter to take a dive. Chunky figures surrounded by lots of bright white space in Segal’s minimally detailed watercolors keep the visuals as simple as the plotline. The language isn’t quite as basic, though, and as it rendered entirely in dialogue—Mother Pig’s lines are italicized—adult readers will have to work hard at their vocal characterizations for it to make any sense. Moreover, younger audiences (any audiences, come to that) may wonder what the piggy’s watery closing “EUREKA!!!” is all about too. Not particularly persuasive, but this might coax a few young porkers to get their trotters into the tub. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: March 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25425-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Though the science is not particularly solid, the message is an important one, and with the level of gross in the...
Krall’s latest is a disgusting, tongue-in-cheek lesson in contagiousness.
Simon loves school so much that even a cold (with its attendant snotty nose) won’t keep him home. He kisses his family and boards the bus, proceeding to vomit out the window on the way: “He…had fun the whole way,” the text understates. The merest contact or proximity leads others to suddenly, and unrealistically, sport Simon’s symptoms. The week includes show-and-tell, a zoo field trip, a game of kickball and a child-free bus on Friday afternoon, all the children having finally succumbed to his illness. The three germs that have been following him around all week finally introduce themselves and high-five him for being such a “germ hero.” Horrified, Simon does his best to stop their spread, washing his hands, covering his mouth, resting and hydrating, though the same cannot be said for one classmate on Monday morning. Krall’s illustrations work in the ick factor, his Photoshopped characters sporting oozing and dripping poison-green noses as each comes into contact with Simon. Careful observers may spot the colorful germs before they introduce themselves, but even those who don’t will want to go back and try to find all their appearances.
Though the science is not particularly solid, the message is an important one, and with the level of gross in the illustrations, it is sure to get through to young audiences. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4424-9097-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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