A charming, amusing, and sweet canine tale about difference and friendship.
A dog who marches to his own drummer tries conforming in this debut picture book.
All the dogs of Harmony Street act in a normal and proper way except for one: Charley. In defiance of canine custom, Charley sticks his rear out the car window rather than his head; he runs in triangles, not circles; and instead of playing catch in the park, he heads home to nap—“with CATS!” Charley’s friends wonder why he can’t act like the rest of them. But Charley just replies, “You say forwards, I say backwards. It’s not right or wrong, wrong nor right. We are just different, you see. And I’m just happy being me.” But Charley’s friends walk away (CATS!), and he decides that maybe he should try acting like other dogs. When he does, though, things work out badly. But finally, his friends return: “As long as you’re happy, what else is there?” To prove it, they all walk Charley home—backward. Rogers’ book effectively reads as a metaphor for autism or any condition that sets kids apart from the majority. Charley has good reasons for doing things the way he does, and the author wisely doesn’t demand that he ultimately conform or reveal some acceptance-earning supertalent. The slightly exaggerated realism of the illustrations by Boyd (Calling the Water Drum, 2016, etc.) does a superb job of showing the dogs’ personalities while adding much liveliness and humor.
A charming, amusing, and sweet canine tale about difference and friendship.Pub Date: April 17, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-942586-24-1
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Little Creek Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 24, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
A pleasant holiday spent with a perfectly charming character.
One of Boynton's signature characters celebrates Halloween.
It's Halloween time, and Pookie the pig is delighted. Mom helps the little porker pick out the perfect Halloween costume, a process that spans the entire board book. Using an abcb rhyme scheme, Boynton dresses Pookie in a series of cheerful costumes, including a dragon, a bunny, and even a caped superhero. Pookie eventually settles on the holiday classic, a ghost, by way of a bedsheet. Boynton sprinkles in amusing asides to her stanzas as Pookie offers costume commentary ("It's itchy"; "It's hot"; "I feel silly"). Little readers will enjoy the notion of transforming themselves with their own Halloween costumes while reading this book, and a few parents may get some ideas as well. Boynton's clean, sharp illustrations are as good as ever. This is Pookie's first holiday title, but readers will surely welcome more.
A pleasant holiday spent with a perfectly charming character. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: July 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-553-51233-5
Page Count: 18
Publisher: Robin Corey/Random
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
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