Clever and charming.
Fred the beagle loves to nap, and he can sleep anywhere—in a shopping bag or a pile of old newspapers or a slightly soggy bath towel. But even he can’t nap through a noisy birthday party.
Fred’s owner is Zelda, a competent little girl with curly, red hair. She is awhirl with preparations for her party, but the festivities are just too much for Fred. He is banished to the “Flower Bed” in the backyard after tasting the frosting roses on the cake and then trying to climb into a “Noisy-Baby Bed.” When the backyard proves even too exciting, he takes refuge in the “Used-to-Be-Fresh-Laundry Bed” until the increasingly wild party is over. In a satisfying conclusion, Zelda presents one of her presents to Fred, a “Brand-New Bed” made of wicker—but alas, Fred can’t sleep in a designated bed. The final page shows “The Best Bed,” with Fred snuggled up to Zelda in her bed. The story is original and witty, as is Fred’s comical character. Bold, bright illustrations have a fresh appeal, with juicy colors, varied perspectives and fanciful flowers, along with the drolly humorous beagle. The connecting device that names each distinctly unusual bed is one that will appeal to preschoolers, who might be inspired to try napping in curious settings themselves.
Clever and charming. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: June 10, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-374-31813-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: April 29, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2014
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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