Zany but forgettable.
This helpful little bear is such a good Samaritan that he’s always late for school.
Frank looks jaunty in his jeans and puffy down vest. He’s a happy young bear, but he’s easily distracted. He arrives for his first day of school after all the other children have gone home. Whether it’s helping to rescue a frightened kitten stuck in a tree or stopping to bust some moves in a dance-off, he can’t bear to keep going on his way. As the days go by, things get progressively a little better. By the fourth day, he arrives before lunch, during snack time—but not before having stopped to investigate “a shrieking squeak” and “a terrible stink.” Just outside the school, there was a big green ogre bullying a family of rabbits. Frank’s rescue of the bunnies results in his arriving covered in that terrible stink. On the fifth day, Frank arrives mere seconds after the bell rings. But school stops abruptly when a giant zombie lizard king breathes fire just outside the classroom window. Everyone else wants to flee, but Frank manages to make friends with the lizard. After that, he is never late again…maybe. The impish illustrations have great quirky appeal, but the story lacks even an inner logic—children will get hung up in the chronology, if nothing else—and has a murky message.
Zany but forgettable. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-7624-5423-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Running Press Kids
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2014
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
A good bet for the youngest bird-watchers.
Echoing the meter of “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” Ward uses catchy original rhymes to describe the variety of nests birds create.
Each sweet stanza is complemented by a factual, engaging description of the nesting habits of each bird. Some of the notes are intriguing, such as the fact that the hummingbird uses flexible spider web to construct its cup-shaped nest so the nest will stretch as the chicks grow. An especially endearing nesting behavior is that of the emperor penguin, who, with unbelievable patience, incubates the egg between his tummy and his feet for up to 60 days. The author clearly feels a mission to impart her extensive knowledge of birds and bird behavior to the very young, and she’s found an appealing and attractive way to accomplish this. The simple rhymes on the left page of each spread, written from the young bird’s perspective, will appeal to younger children, and the notes on the right-hand page of each spread provide more complex factual information that will help parents answer further questions and satisfy the curiosity of older children. Jenkins’ accomplished collage illustrations of common bird species—woodpecker, hummingbird, cowbird, emperor penguin, eagle, owl, wren—as well as exotics, such as flamingoes and hornbills, are characteristically naturalistic and accurate in detail.
A good bet for the youngest bird-watchers. (author’s note, further resources) (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 18, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4424-2116-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2014
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