All in for this dazzling series starter!
An early reader with a big heart.
Hornbeam, an anthropomorphic moose, has many animal friends. In this series opener, which consists of three stories, Rylant uses controlled vocabulary to highlight a trio of especially important friends. The first is Eureka, a goose, who brings Hornbeam to a picnic that turns out to be a great big goose family reunion. In fact, it’s so big that Hornbeam humorously misses out on enjoying much-desired potato salad (giving the last bite to a gosling), since he’s preoccupied with meeting each individual bird. In the second story, Hornbeam’s furnace breaks, and his friend Cuddy (a bull) lets him spend the night. When Hornbeam’s snoring keeps Cuddy awake all night, the good-natured bull displays the same generosity of spirit that Hornbeam did in the first story. Finally, in the third tale, Hornbeam, Eureka, and Cuddy go to the pool to cheer on their skunk friend, Adorabelle, at a swim meet. During the course of events, Hornbeam discloses that he cannot swim, and his friends lovingly encourage him to overcome his anxieties to learn. As in previous Rylant–Howard collaborations, the illustrations ramp up the gentle humor in the text, with funny details like the quadruped moose wearing shoes only on his hind hooves, bumper stickers on animals’ vehicles, and especially snazzy attire for the geese (berets, turtlenecks, glasses).
All in for this dazzling series starter! (Early reader. 5-8)Pub Date: Dec. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781665924818
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted...
Reinvention is the name of the game for two blobs of clay.
A blue-eyed gray blob and a brown-eyed brown blob sit side by side, unsure as to what’s going to happen next. The gray anticipates an adventure, while the brown appears apprehensive. A pair of hands descends, and soon, amid a flurry of squishing and prodding and poking and sculpting, a handsome gray wolf and a stately brown owl emerge. The hands disappear, leaving the friends to their own devices. The owl is pleased, but the wolf convinces it that the best is yet to come. An ear pulled here and an extra eye placed there, and before you can shake a carving stick, a spurt of frenetic self-exploration—expressed as a tangled black scribble—reveals a succession of smug hybrid beasts. After all, the opportunity to become a “pig-e-phant” doesn’t come around every day. But the sound of approaching footsteps panics the pair of Picassos. How are they going to “fix [them]selves” on time? Soon a hippopotamus and peacock are staring bug-eyed at a returning pair of astonished hands. The creative naiveté of the “clay mates” is perfectly captured by Petty’s feisty, spot-on dialogue: “This was your idea…and it was a BAD one.” Eldridge’s endearing sculpted images are photographed against the stark white background of an artist’s work table to great effect.
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted fun of their own . (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 20, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-316-30311-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
