A realistic slapstick tribute to the differences between cats and dogs.
One cat and two dogs are faced with a rainy day.
“Twelve paws like to play outside.” But whom do they belong to? Book 2 in the series reintroduces Pepper and Boo, both dogs, who share a total of eight paws. The last four belong to Cat. On a rainy day, both Cat and Pepper would rather stay indoors (though Cat assures readers it’s not from fear of water). And even after Boo lists all the outdoor fun that can be had in the rain, Pepper wants to stay indoors since their thin fur is not warm enough. That’s when Boo gets busy searching for a “fun coat.” One is so tight Pepper can’t move, and another is so hilariously big Boo can’t tell which end of Pepper is which. When at last they find the perfect coat (after Cat reminds readers that “cat fur is perfect”), the dogs discover the rain has stopped and Pepper’s perfect coat is now too warm for a sunny day. With illustrations that show an explosive splash and equally explosive Cat “YEOWR!” the eminently doggy solution to this new problem creates “puddle trouble” for Cat. With a keen sense of pet psychology, Harper presents the two dogs interacting mostly with each other via speech balloons and Cat addressing readers directly with an extremely opinionated and funny monologue. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A realistic slapstick tribute to the differences between cats and dogs. (Graphic early reader. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 21, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5508-2
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2021
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
A light dose of natural history, with occasional “EWWW!” for flavor
Having surveyed worms, spiders, flies, and head lice, Gravel continues her Disgusting Critters series with a quick hop through toad fact and fancy.
The facts are briefly presented in a hand-lettered–style typeface frequently interrupted by visually emphatic interjections (“TOXIN,” “PREY,” “EWWW!”). These are, as usual, paired to simply drawn cartoons with comments and punch lines in dialogue balloons. After casting glances at the common South American ancestor of frogs and toads, and at such exotic species as the Emei mustache toad (“Hey ladies!”), Gravel focuses on the common toad, Bufo bufo. Using feminine pronouns throughout, she describes diet and egg-laying, defense mechanisms, “warts,” development from tadpole to adult, and of course how toads shed and eat their skins. Noting that global warming and habitat destruction have rendered some species endangered or extinct, she closes with a plea and, harking back to those South American origins, an image of an outsized toad, arm in arm with a dark-skinned lad (in a track suit), waving goodbye: “Hasta la vista!”
A light dose of natural history, with occasional “EWWW!” for flavor . (Informational picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: July 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-77049-667-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2016
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