This wintry triptych of Poppleton tales is all readers have come to expect from Rylant’s (Little Whistle’s Dinner Party, above, etc.) worthy pig: dry humor, natty friendships, and doings that kids can relate to. In the first story, Poppleton’s impressive display of icicles on his house, of which he is justly proud (though neighbors and family counsel him to remove them), is knocked to the ground by a wayward finch. The finch, Patrick by name, apologizes, then, seeing that Poppleton is a bit distraught, suggests Poppleton do something with them. They build a picket fence, and camaraderie. Next, since “winter always made Poppleton creative,” he decides to make a bust of Cherry Sue’s head. As he toils away, he must make frequent trips to Cherry Sue’s house to take a good look at her hair—and her eyes and her nose. Finally Cherry Sue has had enough and she tweaks Poppleton’s snout. Taken aback, he explains his harassment and Cherry Sue comes for a sitting. She even gives his nose a peck. Lastly, he’s disappointed when all his pals can’t go for a sleigh ride. Compounding the misery, they are all busy making delicious foods that he wishes he were eating. Then surprise, they descend upon Poppleton to celebrate his birthday (he’d forgotten). They even get to go for a midnight sleigh ride. All’s well in Poppleton’s world, a place in which kids will be happy to tarry (and so encourage beginning readers). Teague’s (Horus’s Horrible Day, p. 862, etc.) jovial, scrubbed artwork has Poppleton written all over it, especially when capturing Cherry Sue at her most indignant. (Easy reader. 3-8)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-590-84837-2
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Blue Sky/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2001
Sadly, the storytelling runs aground.
A little red sleigh has big Christmas dreams.
Although the detailed, full-color art doesn’t anthropomorphize the protagonist (which readers will likely identify as a sled and not a sleigh), a close third-person text affords the object thoughts and feelings while assigning feminine pronouns. “She longed to become Santa’s big red sleigh,” reads an early line establishing the sleigh’s motivation to leave her Christmas-shop home for the North Pole. Other toys discourage her, but she perseveres despite creeping self-doubt. A train and truck help the sleigh along, and when she wishes she were big, fast, and powerful like them, they offer encouragement and counsel patience. When a storm descends after the sleigh strikes out on her own, an unnamed girl playing in the snow brings her to a group of children who all take turns riding the sleigh down a hill. When the girl brings her home, the sleigh is crestfallen she didn’t reach the North Pole. A convoluted happily-ever-after ending shows a note from Santa that thanks the sleigh for giving children joy and invites her to the North Pole next year. “At last she understood what she was meant to do. She would build her life up spreading joy, one child at a time.” Will she leave the girl’s house to be gifted to other children? Will she stay and somehow also reach ever more children? Readers will be left wondering. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-18-inch double-page spreads viewed at 31.8% of actual size.)
Sadly, the storytelling runs aground. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-72822-355-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020
Continuing to find inspiration in the work of Virginia Lee Burton, Munro Leaf and other illustrators of the past, Long (The Little Engine That Could, 2005) offers an aw-shucks friendship tale that features a small but hardworking tractor (“putt puff puttedy chuff”) with a Little Toot–style face and a big-eared young descendant of Ferdinand the bull who gets stuck in deep, gooey mud. After the big new yellow tractor, crowds of overalls-clad locals and a red fire engine all fail to pull her out, the little tractor (who had been left behind the barn to rust after the arrival of the new tractor) comes putt-puff-puttedy-chuff-ing down the hill to entice his terrified bovine buddy successfully back to dry ground. Short on internal logic but long on creamy scenes of calf and tractor either gamboling energetically with a gaggle of McCloskey-like geese through neutral-toned fields or resting peacefully in the shade of a gnarled tree (apple, not cork), the episode will certainly draw nostalgic adults. Considering the author’s track record and influences, it may find a welcome from younger audiences too. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-399-25248-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2009
SEEN & HEARD
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