The Littles are a staid lot, formal to a fault. When they deign to let a dog into their house, there will be rules. Papa wants the dog, Sally Dog Little (“They never call her Sally for short. Formal families are not fond of ‘for short’ ”), to bark only at burglars; Mama wants her to attend her thrice-daily walks; little Twinkle Little wants her to sleep on her bed at night. Sally abides, until one day a pair of ghost pirates breezes into the house. Sally lets loose a howl. The Littles come running, but can’t see the ghosts. They admonish Sally: “If this happens again, you will have to go.” Sally realizes the ghosts must leave—if they stay she may well give an inadvertent bark—so she queries them as to their intentions. The pirates, Swiggity Jim and his dog Needles, inform Sally they are on their way to the place that ghosts go, but they need a piece of treasure to get there. That treasure, they say, might well be buried under the oak tree out back. That night they dig up a great treasure chest—“Har, har,” says Swiggity—but all Swiggity and Needles want is the map contained therein, leaving the treasure to Sally, telling her to help herself and then bury what remains for someone else to find. Sally grabs what most fetches her fancy—a big bone, obviously once the pearl in Needles’s eye—and buries the rest. The Littles are no wiser, nor, it seems, will they ever be to life’s strange pleasures. A well-told tale that tweaks the Littles enough you’d think some of their stuffing might fall out, and illustrated with the bright edginess of a Lane Smith, exaggerated to a fare-thee-well. (Picture book. 4-7)
Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2002
ISBN: 1-55037-759-0
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Annick Press
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2002
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share.
In this latest in the series, Little Blue Truck, driven by pal Toad, is challenged to a countryside race by Racer Red, a sleek, low-slung vehicle.
Blue agrees, and the race is on. Although the two start off “hood to hood / and wheel to wheel,” they switch positions often as they speed their way over dusty country roads. Blue’s farm friends follow along to share in the excitement and shout out encouragement; adult readers will have fun voicing the various animal sounds. Short rhyming verses on each page and several strategic page turns add drama to the narrative, but soft, mottled effects in the otherwise colorful illustrations keep the competition from becoming too intense. Racer Red crosses the finish line first, but Blue is a gracious loser, happy to have worked hard. That’s a new concept for Racer Red, who’s laser-focused on victory but takes Blue’s words (“win or lose, it’s fun to try!”) to heart—a revelation that may lead to worthwhile storytime discussions. When Blue’s farm animal friends hop into the truck for the ride home, Racer Red tags along and learns a second lesson, one about speed. “Fast is fun, / and slow is too, / as long as you’re / with friends.”
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9780063387843
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
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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