A delight for kids who have graduated from Hervé Tullet’s work and such classics as There’s a Monster at the End of This Book
Shea’s ghost is too scared to leave the house and venture into the scary forest. But readers can go see what it’s like and come back and tell it all about it.
The fourth wall is so broken it doesn’t even exist in this tale. On the first text page, the ghost points out the scary woods a few pages back and then says, “Hope I don’t spill this orange juice on my nice white— / Whoops!” The ghost is “naked” for the rest of the book, perhaps purposefully, but no matter. It stays home to clean the toilet and eat too many doughnuts while trying to convince readers to keep it company. But every other double-page spread reveals what they see when they venture out to see what the forest creatures are up to. The dark, scary hole disgorges a rabbit who delivers party invitations to a bird, an alligator, a beaver, a bear, and a sentient stump (the pumpkins also have legs and faces). They gather to do some crafts, eat some cupcakes, and pick pumpkins before scaring the ghost, who has finally been convinced by readers that it’s safe to venture out. Shea’s Warhol-esque illustrations in orange, blue, yellow, and pink pop off the pages, and his characters appear inspired by Japanese cartoons.
A delight for kids who have graduated from Hervé Tullet’s work and such classics as There’s a Monster at the End of This Book . (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: July 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4847-3046-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.
How to raise money for a coveted poster: put your friends to work!
John, founder of the FUBU fashion line and a Shark Tank venture capitalist, offers a self-referential blueprint for financial success. Having only half of the $10 he needs for a Minka J poster, Daymond forks over $1 to buy a plain T-shirt, paints a picture of the pop star on it, sells it for $5, and uses all of his cash to buy nine more shirts. Then he recruits three friends to decorate them with his design and help sell them for an unspecified amount (from a conveniently free and empty street-fair booth) until they’re gone. The enterprising entrepreneur reimburses himself for the shirts and splits the remaining proceeds, which leaves him with enough for that poster as well as a “brand-new business book,” while his friends express other fiscal strategies: saving their share, spending it all on new art supplies, or donating part and buying a (math) book with the rest. (In a closing summation, the author also suggests investing in stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrency.) Though Miles cranks up the visual energy in her sparsely detailed illustrations by incorporating bright colors and lots of greenbacks, the actual advice feels a bit vague. Daymond is Black; most of the cast are people of color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-56727-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
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
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