Children who are familiar with the traditional story will find this a fresh, funny alternative.
The traditional story of “The Three Little Pigs” is recast with pug puppies instead of pigs and a malevolent, white cat in the role of the Big, Bad Wolf.
Digitally composed illustrations use photographs of the appealing pugs imposed on illustrated backgrounds, using a contemporary palette of pastel shades and effective use of white space. The Big, Bad Cat accessorizes with magenta 10-gallon hat and boots, and her outsized personality is conveyed both through her ferocious appearance and apt textual descriptions: “What a sight! Sharp, scratchy claws, a terrible twitching tail, and mean beady eyes.” The pugs, Bubbles (straw house), Bandit (stick house), and Beauty (brick house), set off to build their own homes, carrying backpacks of food that entrance the cat. She uses a hair dryer to blow down the straw house, a leaf blower to destroy the house built of sticks, and a huge fan and a jumbo jet to attack the sturdy brick house. The action concludes when the cat’s owner calls her home, followed by the surprise introduction of new additions to the cat’s family home—three familiar pug puppies. The book’s design includes speech balloons and display type integrated into the text for emphasis, as in the curlicue typeface chosen for the cat’s owner’s doting blandishments. The pugs are undeniably appealing with their worried facial expressions, and the cat is crafty and amusing rather than truly scary.
Children who are familiar with the traditional story will find this a fresh, funny alternative. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-6801-0043-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: Dec. 20, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Only for dedicated fans of the series.
When a kid gets the part of the ninja master in the school play, it finally seems to be the right time to tackle the closet monster.
“I spot my monster right away. / He’s practicing his ROAR. / He almost scares me half to death, / but I won’t be scared anymore!” The monster is a large, fluffy poison-green beast with blue hands and feet and face and a fluffy blue-and-green–striped tail. The kid employs a “bag of tricks” to try to catch the monster: in it are a giant wind-up shark, two cans of silly string, and an elaborate cage-and-robot trap. This last works, but with an unexpected result: the monster looks sad. Turns out he was only scaring the boy to wake him up so they could be friends. The monster greets the boy in the usual monster way: he “rips a massive FART!!” that smells like strawberries and lime, and then they go to the monster’s house to meet his parents and play. The final two spreads show the duo getting ready for bed, which is a rather anticlimactic end to what has otherwise been a rambunctious tale. Elkerton’s bright illustrations have a TV-cartoon aesthetic, and his playful beast is never scary. The narrator is depicted with black eyes and hair and pale skin. Wallace’s limping verses are uninspired at best, and the scansion and meter are frequently off.
Only for dedicated fans of the series. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-4894-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
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
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
